


Pink on Green: Revolutions

by sssssssim



Series: Pink on Green [3]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-27
Updated: 2016-07-19
Packaged: 2018-04-23 17:09:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 80
Words: 181,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4884940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sssssssim/pseuds/sssssssim
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>olicity drabble collection. my third one :)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lafite Rothschild 1982

**Author's Note:**

> [hockeyfanatic68](http://hockeyfanatic68.tumblr.com/) asked: _When Oliver finally delivers the bottle of Lafitte Rothschild 1982 to Felicity she insists they drink it together_

Felicity looks at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, and she can’t wipe the grin off her face.

She’s naked, the wedding dress she wore throughout the day hanged on the back of the door. Her hair is still wet, falling around her shoulders, small beads of water sill dropping onto her skin. Her face is flushed, from scrubbing her makeup off.

The brand new wedding ring glistens on her finger, and she loves it. She loves that it’s there, finally, she loves that Oliver has a matching one. She loves that her name is officially Felicity Queen and she loves that her husband is waiting for her, just outside of the bathroom door.

They’re in a very fancy hotel, it’s 4 am, they’re newlyweds and Felicity is excited, because she knows this will be the best night of her life.

Felicity doesn’t bother getting dressed, she knows there’s no point to it. But she does put on a simple gray t-shirt, that was Oliver’s originally.

He’s waiting for her in the middle of the bed.

Oliver’s half naked too, just in boxers and a white undershirt, his suit messily thrown over a chair in the other side of the room.

He’s smiling softly at her, and Felicity can’t help but return it.

As she gets closer to the bed, she notices that Oliver has a tray on it, with a bottle of red wine and two glasses.

Felicity grins as she slowly sits down next to him, propping her back against the headboard. Oliver kisses her then, slowly and sweetly, but he doesn’t let it develop into something more.

He wordlessly reaches for the bottle of wine and the opener, and it’s only then when Felicity sees what it actually is.

Oliver notices the change on her face, probably, because he smirks.

‘I’m a little late.’, he says, and Felicity nods.

‘A couple of years late’, she smirks.

‘But better late than never’, Oliver nods, and Felicity agrees easily, pointedly fiddling with her wedding ring.

Oliver grins as he hands her a glass, and when they clink them together, he calls her Mrs. Queen and grins, so pleased and happy, it makes Felicity’s insides melt.

The wine is wonderful, and Felicity drinks enough to make her insides tingle.

Oliver’s lips are red from it, and when they kiss, she can’t taste anything except for the wine.

A few hours later, the half empty bottle accidentally ends up shattered on the floor, but Felicity is too busy screaming Oliver’s name to care.


	2. Things that come in three.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [placeofold](http://placeofold.tumblr.com) asked: _Dark Knight inspired, where Felicity and Moria/Thea/Papa Lance are taken by a baddie, and Team Arrow are told where they are, except the people at the locations are wrong. You could go full angst like the movie, or switch it up, I'll leave it up to you =)_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Fun fact” about me: I… am not really that into Batman. Never was.  
> I mean, I kind of really like Gotham right now, but uh, the movies… meh. I’ve seen them, once. And I uh… don’t have a lot of memories of them. So this fic’s gonna be a mess, fo sure.

Oliver had hoped he could put the League of Assassins behind him, but unfortunately, that wasn’t an option, not with Malcom Merlyn as Ra’s Al Ghul.

But now, he knew better, he knew not to underestimate him.

So when Malcom sent three dozens of his men to Starling City to kill him, Oliver didn't hesitate to ask for help.

Barry and Cisco were more than happy to come and help, bringing Caitlin for reasons unknown to Oliver. With Digg out of commission on the count of Lyla giving birth to another baby, and with Laurel out of the city visiting her mother, Starling City was left with the 6 of them.

Oliver, Barry and Cisco, and Felicity, Caitlin and Thea.

They fought for a week straight. Every night, the men and Thea fought with League men, even if they were always outnumbered. And no matter how much they disabled and hurt them, League members always came back the next night.

One night, Thea got hurt. She took a bullet to the thigh, and while she was going to be okay, Oliver forbid her to go out the next night.

So Thea stayed back in the Foundry, with Felicity and Caitlin.

That night, Oliver, Barry and Cisco fought off all the League of Assassins members that were still in the city. They gave them up to Lance, all but one, which was instructed to go back to Merlyn and tell him that they failed.

When they went back to the Foundry, bruised and worse for wear but with a grin on their faces, they found it empty.

There was a video message playing on one of the screens, Malcom’s grinning face showing superiority.

‘I knew my men were no match for you’, Merlyn said. ‘Just as I know that nothing is more important to you, than your women. So I took them. Don’t worry’, he grinned, ‘I’ll tell you where they are. You’ll either save them, or you’ll die alongside them. Either way, I shall be entertained.’

Oliver punched a wall. Barry swore.

Cisco started typing away, revealing their locations. Oliver would go after Felicity, Barry after Caitlin, and Cisco after Thea. They didn’t even need to discuss it, and they rushed out without saying anything more.

≈≡≈

When Cisco got to the location, he found a deserted warehouse. His thermo scanner told him there were 15 men inside, all heavily armed, just sitting there, around Thea, who by the looks of things, was tied to a chair.

Cisco didn’t hesitate. He went into the warehouse with guns blazing, metaphorically speaking. Meaning that he got inside with his arms wide, and targeted their weapons first, easily vibrating them until they were all disabled.

Then, it took a bit more work, but he shook the ground around him. He tried his best to make the rifts in the cement sidestep the chair Thea was strapped to, and it seemed to work, because when he was done, all the League members have fallen into the ground, and the chair was the only thing left standing.

Cisco rushed to it. Thea had a black cloth over her head, and she was shaking violently, her hands and feet tied together and to the chair. She was also screaming.

He took of the cloth, and was faced with blue eyes and blonde hair.

‘You’re not Thea’, he stammered out, when the woman stopped screaming.

‘I’m so happy to see you’, Felicity whispered.

She was crying, her glasses were missing a lens, and now that he was close, Cisco could see that she was bleeding from different cuts. He cut off the rope and as soon as she could, Felicity threw her arms around Cisco’s neck.

She was still on the chair, and he was kneeling in front of her, so it wasn’t hard for Cisco to hug her back.

Felicity was shaking, violently. And she was cold, her cheek against his gave him goosebumps. And she was still crying.

Cisco slowly pushed her away, keeping a hand on her neck, conspicuously checking her pulse. Felicity let him, she just looked at him with eyes wide, blinking rapidly.

Her pulse was still through the roof.

‘How hurt are you?’, Cisco asked her.

Felicity shook his head. ‘Just small cuts. But I’m bleeding bugs through them.’

Cisco blinked, his eyes falling on a cut Felicity had on her collar bone. It was bleeding, but not badly.

‘You’re bleeding bugs?’, he felt the need to ask.

Felicity nodded. ‘And I’m watched. By ghosts.’

Cisco gaped at her, but it didn’t take long for his brain to catch up.

‘Were you drugged?’

‘Yeah’, Felicity nodded, and she started sobbing again. ‘There are a lot of things after me, I’m really scared.’

She hugged him again, pushing her face into the crook of his neck.

‘Cisco, they’re going to hurt me.’

‘They’re not’, he said as soothingly as he could. ‘Can you stand up? I’ll take you back to the Foundry. You’ll be safe there.’

Felicity nodded, but she didn’t seem convinced.

So Cisco grabbed a hold of her face, making her look at him.

‘I’ll keep you safe, okay? I promise.’

‘You have powers’, Felicity whispered, seemingly in awe.

‘I do’, Cisco grinned. ‘So I can keep you safe.’

Felicity nodded and, on shaky legs, stood up.

≈≡≈

Barry has no idea why Starling City has a deserted maze, but here he is. Surrounded by concrete and cockroaches, and by League members.

Because the maze was swarming with them.

He tried to run through it as fast as he could, but he had to stop often, and fight the groups of men that were blocking his way.

That’s why it took him more than an hour to get at the center of the maze, to get to Caitlin.

Her head was covered in a black cloth, and her arms were chained to the ceiling. She was shaking, her legs were barely touching the ground and Barry could see blood trickling down her arms, from where the chains dug into her skin.

Barry rushed to find the keys to the cuffs, and Caitlin screamed when his fingers touched her skin. He stopped trying to get her free then, taking off the cloth from her head instead.

But it wasn’t Caitlin, it was Thea. Who was bleeding from her bottom lip and was crying.

‘I can’t breathe’, she managed to rasp out, and Barry was quick to set her arms free then.

Thea would have fallen to the ground, but Barry managed to catch her, lowering her down slowly instead.

She was taking big gulps of breath, one palm on her neck. After a few seconds, without saying anything, she used her other hand to grab a hold of his suit. Then, Thea forcefully pulled down Barry's mask, and then she pulled him towards her, until his face was close enough for her to kiss.

Thea kissed his cheek, sweetly, gasping against his skin.

‘Thank you’, she rasped out, and Barry just shook his head at her.

‘I’m so happy Oliver met you’, Thea went on, her hand moving to cup his cheek. ‘And I’m so happy Felicity kept you.’

Barry smiled at that, blushing despite himself. But he didn’t say anything, couldn’t really think of any words, so he picked Thea up and ran her back to the Foundry.

≈≡≈

Felicity was being kept a long way outside of the city. It took him half an hour to get there, even if he sped on his bike, and another 5 minutes to get rid of the surprisingly few League of Assassins members that were guarding the only locked room in the compound.

When Oliver got inside, he froze, a gasp escaping his lips.

Felicity was tied to a metal table, and she was naked, par from a pair of black underwear. There was a black cloth over her head and her body had multiple bruises already developing, mostly around her thighs.

She was shaking, and the room was very cold.

When he reached her and his fingers passed over her collarbone, as he tried to take off the cloth, Felicity screamed, and she started trashing, fighting against her restraints. Oliver’s heart broke, but he still forcefully took off the cloth from her head.

He gasped again when he saw that it was Caitlin.

Caitlin, who was looking up at him with wide eyes, clearly terrified.

‘It’s okay’, Oliver managed to say. ‘It's me, Oliver. I’m not going to hurt you, you know that.’

Caitlin nodded, slowly. Then, she took a deep breath, and started crying pretty violently.

‘Please get me out’, she rasped out, and Oliver was quick to get her loose of her restraints.

He helped Caitlin sit up, still on the table, and he didn’t hesitate in taking off his hood, and wrapping her up in it.

Caitlin grabbed a hold of Oliver’s hand before he could pull away, and she tugged on it, until Oliver gingerly wrapped his arms around her. He hugged her for a while, until Caitlin managed to calm down slightly.

‘I should take you to the hospital’, Oliver said, not wanting to say the words out loud. But Caitlin shook her head, and she clearly knew what he was thinking.

‘They didn’t rape me’, she whispered. ‘They just… acted like they were going to. I’m fine.’

Then, she looked Oliver in the eyes and her voice sounded stronger. ‘I’m fine. I’m a doctor, you know, I’d know if I weren’t fine.’

Oliver wasn’t convinced.

‘Please get me to my … Barry and Cisco’, Caitlin whispered then, and really, Oliver couldn’t say no to that.

≈≡≈

They all got to the Foundry at about the same time. Caitlin insisted that she was fine, so the boys let her work on cleaning up Thea’s wrists and flushing the drug out of Felicity’s system.

But when she was done with that, Barry sat her down and fussed over her.

Meanwhile, Oliver was in the other corner of the Foundry, holding Felicity’s hand and talking at her as the drugs still held a hold of her.

Thea and Cisco gravitated toward one another, in lack of anything else to do.

‘This was weird’, Cisco started by saying.

‘It was well thought, though’, Thea tilted her head. ‘It took the same time, to get us out, we are all hurt, one way or another.’

‘Yeah’, Cisco frowned. ‘But why would he lie about your locations?’

At seeing Thea’s frown, Cisco explained to her, that Merlyn told them their locations, but they didn’t match.

Thea thought about it for a while, not saying anything. After a while, Barry turned to smile at her. And Felicity thanked Cisco, again, for taking care of her. And then Caitlin smiled at Oliver, saying ‘our superheroes are pretty awesome.’

Thea turned to look at Cisco, raising an eyebrow.

‘Oh’, he said, slowly. ‘This… still makes no sense.’

‘I have no doubt that my dad really wanted us to die’, Thea said. ‘But’, she smiled, ‘he failed and it seems it only made us stronger.’

‘You’re still hurt, though’, Cisco frowned. ‘And Caitlin is still shivering, and Felicity is still drugged.’

‘Yes, but’, Thea rolled her eyes and lowered her voice even more, ‘Barry doesn’t look like he’ll ever leave Caitlin alone again, Ollie is probably saying more now to Felicity than he has ever said in his life, and I’m seriously debating asking you out.’

Cisco blushed at that, and it took a long while for him to look at Thea, who was watching him with a grin.

‘Your brother’s gonna kill me.’, he whispered.

‘That wasn’t a no’, Thea all but sang, as she bumped their shoulders together.

Cisco didn’t really answer, but he didn’t stop blushing either.


	3. You've got mail

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _Felicity is an author, Oliver is a book critic - he criticises her book and she confronts him. Next thing you know, they end up together and married, and Felicity writes a book about or inspired by how Oliver and her met. Oliver's review on it is something funny and witty. I dunno, up to you but please write this!! :)_
> 
> Anon asked: _The movie "You've got mail” AU_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope you've seen the movie, this will make a lot more sense if you did :)
> 
> These e-mails are sent in the span of a few months. They're not the only mails they've exchanged, these are just ... extracts. Does that make sense? I hope it does.

**From:[itgirl7@mail.com](mailto:itgirl7@mail.com)**   
**To:[jnsq@mail.com](mailto:jnsq@mail.com)**

My dear favorite stranger,

I AM DONE! It is done!

After what felt like a lifetime, my book is finally done. I’m holding a copy of it in my hand, and tomorrow it starts selling. In just a couple of bookstores and online, but still. Holy crap, by book is done.

I am so happy, I can’t even begin to describe what my heart is doing right now.

And I can’t even begin to thank you, dear stranger. In the past year, you’ve been a part of this book as much as I have. Even if I never told you, our conversations always helped me. They gave me an idea, made me change something or just made my muse get on the right track. You kept me sane when I felt like going crazy, and you made me think crazy thoughts when everything was so mundane.

I will never be able to repay you for all that you have done for me, but know, my sweet stranger, that I will never forget it.

I might just give you a shout-out at the start of my second book. How does that sound?

Yours, itgirl  


 

**From:[jnsq@mail.com](mailto:jnsq@mail.com)**   
**To:[itgirl7@mail.com](mailto:itgirl7@mail.com)**

Firstly, I have to apologize for taking so long to respond. I was out of town, and had no access to internet.

However, this has been a good thing. Because when I finally checked my e-mail, you book was already on stands.

Did you know, that beyond your novel, another 352 new titles have been launched on that day?

I really wish you’d tell me your name, itgirl. I really wish I’d get to read your book.

I wish I could buy three copies of it. One to leave on my nightstand, one to leave at my office, and one to keep in my bag, so I could read it in between.

I wish I could know how you write your women. Are they as strong as you are, or do they have to evolve to get there?

I wish I could know how New York looks like through your eyes. I’ve read a lot of stories that happen in New York, but I really wish to know how the city is for you.

I wish I could go with Brinkley to the park on Sunday, and read your book as he plays around with other dogs.

I wish I could make my best friend read your book, because I became so obsessed with it, I have to talk to him about it.

I wish I’d knew your name, my dear friend. I wish I knew who I was so happy for.

I wish I’d knew your name, so that I could tell you mine, and you’d address me properly in your second book.

 

 

**From:[itgirl7@mail.com](mailto:itgirl7@mail.com)**   
**To:[jnsq@mail.com](mailto:jnsq@mail.com)**

My dear stranger,

I know I haven’t mentioned my book in a while, but I didn’t want to sound like I’m bragging.

Honestly, it’s doing well. Surprisingly well. The sale numbers are astonishing to me, and the numbers of bookstores it’s sold at has tripled in the past two months.

However, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows.

In school, I never cared about bullies. It was a gift, really, and it’s transpired into my writing career as well. I don’t care about haters.

I don’t care about the critics that gave my book a bad review. There were few of them, and I really don’t care.

But… Him.

There’s Him.

I’m not going to tell you his name, in fear you’ll find out mine, so let’s call him… King. Because that’s what he thinks he is.

I wouldn’t have minded his bad review, he’s notorious for them. But he was hurtful towards _me_. He assumed things, based on my characters, assumed things about me. And they were wrong. So wrong.

Still, I would’ve managed to get passed it. I would have completely ignored King’s review, and went on with my life.

But then I met him.

He said horrible things, to my face.

And I tried. Lord help me, I tried answering in the exact same manner. But I couldn’t.

Never in my life have I ever been able to be hurtful, evil, no matter how much I wanted it. And words cannot express how much I wanted it.

I wanted to tell him something so cold and awful, I wanted to shut up his stupid mouth.

But I couldn’t.

I’m not as strong as I thought I was, my dear stranger. Because I let it bring me down. One short meeting with someone so insignificant in my life, and I let it screw with me.

I haven’t written one word in two week, I already missed a deadline.

I hope your month is going better.

 

 

**From:[jnsq@mail.com](mailto:jnsq@mail.com)**   
**To:[itgirl7@mail.com](mailto:itgirl7@mail.com)**

Being strong is overrated, my friend.

I am strong, at least in the sense of the word you seem to use.

I say hurtful things on a daily basis, it’s part of my job. I bring people down, I ruin them, in a very studied manner. It’s mechanical, almost. Diabolical, some would call it.

And I hate it.

I don’t want to do it anymore. I want to be like you.

Every time I think an evil thought, I want something to stop me from saying it. But nothing ever does.

We should switch, my dear friend. You could be as strong as I am, and I could be as kind as you are.

As for your writing problem… I’m probably not the best man to give you advice, but you should try stepping out of your comfort zone.

Write in the kitchen, not at your desk. Drink tea, not coffee. Watch a documentary, not your usual sci-fi movies. Go out someplace new. Buy a new perfume.

Maybe it’ll help you reboot your muse.

 

 

**From:[itgirl7@mail.com](mailto:itgirl7@mail.com)**   
**To:[jnsq@mail.com](mailto:jnsq@mail.com)**

It’s very interesting, this theory of yours. That if I step out of my comfort zone, I’ll be able to write again.

We should test this theory, my dear stranger.

I think we should meet.

 

 

**From:[itgirl7@mail.com](mailto:itgirl7@mail.com)**   
**To:[jnsq@mail.com](mailto:jnsq@mail.com)**

I hope you have a reason.

Because if you would have been there, when and where you said you would be, then King wouldn’t have ambushed me. He mocked me, again, but this time…

I don’t know what it was, but this time, he was right. His words didn’t really hurt anymore, because they were true.

I’m very lost, my dear stranger.

And I’m disappointed, in myself, that I thought you could be my savior.

 

 

**From:[jnsq@mail.com](mailto:jnsq@mail.com)**   
**To:[itgirl7@mail.com](mailto:itgirl7@mail.com)**

It couldn’t be helped. I couldn’t make it, and I am sorry.

I know these words don’t mean a lot.

The truth is, my lovely friend, the truth is I will never be able to be your savior. I want to. Believe me, I want it badly. I would do anything in my power to help you, with anything.

But it will never be enough, of that I am sure.

 

 

**From:[itgirl7@mail.com](mailto:itgirl7@mail.com)**   
**To:[jnsq@mail.com](mailto:jnsq@mail.com)**

I don’t want to stop e-mailing you.

I was mad, for a while, but I’m over it. We don’t need to meet face to face to be friends, right?

We’ve been doing it for almost two years now. Why change the status quo? Our status quo.

I don’t want to stop e-mailing you, because even when you hurt me (momentarily, I promise I’m over it now), you still pushed me forward.

I figured, that if I couldn’t get out of my comfort zone with you, I could do that with King.

So I sent him my second book. The manuscript for it, at least. I’m still waiting for his response.

 

 

**From:[jnsq@mail.com](mailto:jnsq@mail.com)**   
**To:[itgirl7@mail.com](mailto:itgirl7@mail.com)**

Congratulations, on finishing your second book! I am very proud of you, my dear friend.

And I am extremely proud of you, for doing what you did. It took, pardon my language, balls to send your manuscript to King. But I know it will be worth it. Whatever his review will be, you will feel better having done it.

 

 

**From:[itgirl7@mail.com](mailto:itgirl7@mail.com)**   
**To:[jnsq@mail.com](mailto:jnsq@mail.com)**

I have to be honest with you, my dear stranger.

Yesterday I had the shock of my life. Not only did King give me a good review, but he did it face to face.

We met at the market, of all places, and we shopped together, as we chatted about my book.

You never said what you do, exactly, but I do know that you work with a lot of people.

So tell me, is it possible for a person to completely turn around in the spam of 6 months?

Because the evil King, he seems quite lovely now.

 

 

**From:[jnsq@mail.com](mailto:jnsq@mail.com)**   
**To:[itgirl7@mail.com](mailto:itgirl7@mail.com)**

I never trust a first impression.

 

 

**From:[itgirl7@mail.com](mailto:itgirl7@mail.com)**   
**To:[jnsq@mail.com](mailto:jnsq@mail.com)**

I feel like we haven’t talked about you in ages.

Just me and my life, babble babble babble.

Please, tell me, how are you?

 

 

**From:[jnsq@mail.com](mailto:jnsq@mail.com)**   
**To:[itgirl7@mail.com](mailto:itgirl7@mail.com)**

Truth be told, my dear friend, I’m in a bit of a pickle.

I recently discovered something that turned my entire world upside down. And my reaction, it wasn’t the best. I don’t deal well with surprises and changes.

So I had a lot of thinking to do. And I still have a lot of thinking to do.

It feels like the thoughts will never reach a conclusion.

I’m a mess, my dear friend.

 

 

**From:[itgirl7@mail.com](mailto:itgirl7@mail.com)**   
**To:[jnsq@mail.com](mailto:jnsq@mail.com)**

Maybe you’re thinking too hard.

That’s your default setting, I think, you always think about everything, from every possible angle.

You told me once to get out of my comfort zone. I listened to your advice a couple of times now, and it always ended well.

Maybe you should listen to your advice, for a change. Step out of your comfort zone. Stop thinking so hard.

 

 

**From:[jnsq@mail.com](mailto:jnsq@mail.com)**   
**To:[itgirl7@mail.com](mailto:itgirl7@mail.com)**

I’m sorry if I’m too forward, but I kind need to hear it.

How did you taking my advice end well?

 

 

**From:[itgirl7@mail.com](mailto:itgirl7@mail.com)**   
**To:[jnsq@mail.com](mailto:jnsq@mail.com)**

I sent my manuscript to King, and he liked it. Not only that, but he gave me constructive feedback on it, and I feel like it helped my book, a lot.

Also, I found a friend in King. It’s… a weird relationship. But we are friends now, at the very least, and I enjoy it very much.

I started drinking tea and I figured out I was having a slightly allergic reaction to the milk I put in my coffee.

I watched a documentary, and it gave me an idea for a scene I was struggling with in my book.

 

 

**From:[jnsq@mail.com](mailto:jnsq@mail.com)**   
**To:[itgirl7@mail.com](mailto:itgirl7@mail.com)**

My dear friend,

I know I don’t deserve it.

But could we meet?

For real this time?

 

**From:[itgirl7@mail.com](mailto:itgirl7@mail.com)**   
**To:[jnsq@mail.com](mailto:jnsq@mail.com)**

Only if you bring Brinkley, as well as yourself.

 

**(1 NEW E-MAIL)**

‘You know, sometimes I wonder’, Oliver says, making Felicity stop walking.

‘If I hadn’t written that awful review of your book, and if you wouldn’t have been Felicity Smoak, creator of the Arrow series… and you and I have just met…’

‘I know’, Felicity can’t help but smile. 

‘I would have asked for your number’, Oliver says next, making Felicity falter. 

‘And I wouldn’t have been able to wait 24 hours before calling you up and saying hey, how about some coffee or, you know, drinks, or dinner, or a movie?’ He pauses, not taking his eyes off her. ‘For as long as we both shall live.’

Felicity tries saying something. She tries telling Oliver that it’s not okay, that he just thinks that now, because they’ve been spending a lot of time together in the past months he thinks it's okay, that it’s not the right time, because Felicity has a date with a man she has been speaking to for years.

But Oliver doesn’t let her speak.

‘And we never would have hated each other to begin with, and the only thing we’d fight about would be… what movie to rent on a Saturday night.’

Felicity has to blink away tears. ‘Well, who fights about that?’

‘Some people’, Oliver breathes out, his eyes skipping to her lips briefly. ‘Not us.’

‘We would never’, Felicity agrees quickly, her eyes darting away from his.

‘If only…’ Oliver whispers a couple of seconds later, and Felicity has to get out of there.

‘I’ve got to go’, she says, but Oliver stops her, with a soft hand on her shoulder.

‘Let me ask you something. How can you forgive this guy for standing you up, and not forgive me for this tiny little thing, of writing you a bad review?’

Felicity can’t breathe. She has to put a hand to her chest, willing her heart to stop beating so fast. She can’t look Oliver in the eyes, she can’t.

‘Oh, how I wish you would.’, Oliver sighs, and Felicity really needs to get out of there.

This time, Oliver lets her.

**(1 NEW E-MAIL)**

She gets there first. There’s no man with a dog around, and for a couple of seconds, she thinks he stood her up again.

Then, Felicity hears a man’s voice somewhere in the distance, yelling _Brinkley!_

Then, a dog barks.

Felicity sees Brinkley first, barking and running straight towards her. Then, she sees Oliver.

Oliver, hurrying after Brinkley, with a leash in hands.

Oliver, stopping a few feet from her.

Oliver, smiling softly at her.

Felicity grins instinctually, before her brain catches up.

When Oliver gets in front of her, it’s impossible for her to control her tears.

‘Don’t cry, itgirl’, he wipes away one of her tears, smiling softly. ‘Don’t cry.’

‘I wanted it to be you’, Felicity admits. ‘I wanted it to be you so badly.’

That makes Oliver move, slowly and hesitantly, but Felicity moves too. They kiss slowly, and sweetly, but it means the world to her. It feels like all the stars are aligning for them, it feels like she cooked just the right amount of pasta, it feels like the best summer’s rain and the best winter’s sunrise. It feels perfect.

And then, Brinkley barks, pulling on Oliver’s jacket, and he has to take a hand away from her waist in older to pet the dog. Felicity smiles against Oliver’s lips, and reluctantly pulls away, just so she can pet Brinkley too.


	4. 4000$

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon (probably, I can't find the message anymore) asked: _You bought me at a charity auction and you’re probably a serial killer_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Changing it up a weebit, of course I am.

Felicity is as shocked as everybody else in the room.

She wasn’t thinking. Clearly, she wasn’t thinking.

‘Sold!’, the annoying woman on stage yells, pointing a finger at Felicity. ‘To the blonde woman in a red dress.’

Oliver’s eyes lock with hers, then, and Felicity gulps, the reality around her finally coming into focus.

She just spent 4000$ on a date with Oliver Queen.

Her boss. Well, her boss’ boss.

She just spent 4000$ on a date with a man whose last name was on the building she worked in.

Worst purchase she ever did, quite possibly. Considering how everybody in the room was still staring at her.

She just spent 4000$ on a date with Oliver Queen.

She just yelled her bid in a room filled with her superiors and co-workers.

She just donated 4000$ for charity.

That made her smile, averting her eyes from Oliver.

⃝+⃝

After Felicity hands a check to the person in charge of them, she heads straight to the bar, where she gets a glass of champagne.

That’s where Oliver finds her. He puts a hand on her shoulder, briefly, just to get her attention and smiles easily when she yelps.

‘Hello’, he says. ‘I’m Oliver Queen.’

‘I know’, Felicity doesn’t miss a beat. Of course, she regrets it immediately after, and she shakes her head and wills her blush away.

‘Felicity Smoak’, she says, extending a hand, which he promptly kisses. His lips barely touch her skin, but she still feels herself flame up again.

‘So’, she shakes her head. ‘What’s the protocol for this? I have no idea.’

‘Protocol?’, Oliver frowns.

‘Do you get to pick where I’m taking you?’, Felicity starts babbling. ‘Or do I pick? Do we go now? Or later, or… Do we have to like… do it publically? There’s a lot of press here.’

Oliver just blinks at her for a while.

‘I don’t actually know’, he finally says, clearly trying to fight back a smile. ‘I’ve never done this before.’

Felicity tilts her head. There are a lot of things she wants to say to that, but she refrains. Maybe she’ll ask when they go to dinner. Which doesn’t sound like a bad idea.

‘How about dinner?’, she shrugs.

Oliver nods, serious. ‘There’s a very nice sushi place, that my mother keeps raving about.’

Felicity winces.

‘Don’t like sushi?’, Oliver smiles.

She shakes her head. ‘Sorry.’

‘It’s no problem. Italian, then? Everybody likes Italian.’

Felicity nods, as she gulps down her champagne. She winces after, the bubbles too sweet on her tongue.

‘I assume you want to go some place… nice’, Oliver says, and when Felicity turns to look at him, he’s clearly searching for something. So she takes a gamble.

‘May I be honest with you?’

At his nod, Felicity lowers her voice. ‘I kinda hate it, all the corporate parties and fancy restaurants. Having to think if the fork I’m using is the right one, and being unable to order a glass of beer because I’m a woman, and the heels and dresses and just… the hassle of it all.’

He doesn’t say anything, so Felicity barrels on.

‘But I understand that it’s something I have to do, a … date’, her voice cracks, but he doesn’t react, ‘with Oliver Queen has to be at a certain level. So, really, Mr. Queen, you choose whatever suits you.’

It takes a couple of seconds, for Oliver to say anything. What he does say, it surprises Felicity completely.

‘Do you know the Big Belly Burger over on 5th? And please, call me Oliver.’

Felicity grins.

⃝+⃝

They meet at the diner the next weekend. It’s Saturday night, so the place is packed, but when she gets there, Oliver is already sitting at a booth.

Felicity is pleased to see that he’s wearing jeans and a simple t-shirt. She’s also dressed casually, in short jeans and a loose polo, and when he sees her, Oliver smiles and gets up to greet her.

He kisses the back of her hand again, and the flutter in Felicity’s heart shouldn’t really be there.

It’s awkward, as they order and attempt to do small talk, and Felicity really does regret her decision. Oliver is clearly thinking the same, and she can’t wait to get out of there.

After they finish their burgers, Oliver orders them beer and cake and that makes her feel better, marginally.

‘I’m sorry’, he says as Felicity digs in her desert, ‘I don’t actually know what you do in our company.’

Felicity snorts, she can’t help it.

‘I work in the IT department.’

He frowns. ‘I wasn’t expecting that.’

‘I don’t look like your usual IT nerd, I know’, she blushes despite herself. ‘But I’m very good at my job, and I’m not just being full of myself. My boss keeps telling me I would have been promoted, if he could’ve done it.’

‘And why can’t he?’, Oliver asks, sounding genuinely curious.

Felicity shrugs. ‘Company policy, I don’t really know. I’ve only been at QC for a couple of months, I guess that’s the main problem.’

‘I can’t really do anything about that.’

Felicity freezes, mortified. ‘Ohmygod’, she whines. ‘No, Oliver, I’m sorry, that’s not-… Frack, I didn’t… I’m not trying to… I don’t want you to do anything about it, I was just making conversation. I’m sorry.’

Oliver just raises an eyebrow.

‘I didn’t pay all that money to get favors.’, she says, as strongly as she can. ‘Any type of favors’, she blushes, but really, it’s what everybody assumed, that she wanted to get into Oliver’s pants. ‘I’m sorry if I gave you that impression.’

‘Then, why did you pay all that money for a date with me?’

Felicity bites on her lower lip. Again, his openly curious expression makes her take a leap, and ask him what she wanted to know since the night of the auction.

‘You looked like you needed saving’, Felicity says, slowly, clearly surprising him.

‘May I be honest with you?’, she asks again, and Oliver shrugs.

‘We’re on a date, Felicity’, he says with narrowed eyes. ‘You can stop thinking of me as your boss, please.’ Then, under his breath, he mumbles ‘and start thinking of me as a human being.’

‘As a human being’, Felicity says before she can over think it, ‘the years you were away changed you immensely.’

His whole expression changes then, growing cold and detached. Felicity pushes through.

‘I didn’t know you then, and I don’t know you now, but… from what I’ve seen…’

She sighs, and shakes her head.

‘What I’m trying to say, is that you never went to one of these auctions before. And now, you looked like you were ready to shoot yourself in the face just to get out of it. You were pale, you kept clenching your fists and you never once looked anybody in the eye.’

‘You didn’t answer my question.’, Oliver says, and when Felicity looks at him, his expression still hasn’t changed. ‘Why did you pay for me?’

‘Because I was curious’, Felicity admits. ‘About what was going on in your head. And because I was afraid you were going to pass out if you were on that stage any longer. And, seriously’, she winches, ‘the Mayor’s wife looked like she was going to eat you alive if she won you.’

Oliver laughs.

Felicity’s so startled by it, she gets chocolate cream on her palm. She doesn’t move to wipe it away, she just stares at Oliver. There’s laughter lines at the edges of his eyes, where they’re squeezed shut, and he laughs with his whole body, hand clutching to the table.

When he finally stops, and looks back at her, he’s still smiling.

‘You’re far too smart for me.’, he says, and Felicity frowns. Deeply.

‘You were right’, he goes on. ‘I really didn’t want to be a part of it all, but my mother insisted. Truth be told, I hate it too. The corporate parties and the suits and having to ask myself if I’m using the right fork.’ Oliver smiles at her, and Felicity finally manages to move, grab a napkin and wipe her hand.

‘And if I’m being honest’, he looks away, sighing deeply. ‘I can’t… I still am not very okay with being in crowded places.’

He looks vulnerable, then, but it’s clear that he’s trying not to. Felicity opens her mouth to say something, or maybe ask him something more, but she doesn’t get a chance to, because Oliver’s phone rings. He apologizes briefly, but doesn’t move away from the table as he answers.

‘Diggle!’, he joyfully says. Then, his face falls completely, and once again, he’s looking … Felicity doesn’t actually know what to call it, how to describe it, but it scares her.

Oliver looks like he could kill anybody in that moment, and the fact that he bites out ‘I’ll be right there’, before hanging up, that doesn’t help. He leaves quickly after that, throwing a 50$ bill on the table and apologizing briefly. Oliver kisses Felicity’s cheek, but she doesn’t think he’s even aware he did it, considering he barely looked at her.

She… really doesn’t know what just happened.

⃝+⃝

On Wednesday, Felicity is exhausted. She slept 8 hours in the past 50, she’s been working nonstop at a stupid, useless project that her boss insisted on doing, even if she was literally the only one doing all of the work.

And that is when Oliver came to her office.

She blinks at him, for a while, as he talks and smiles at her.

‘I’m sorry’, Felicity shakes her head. ‘I literally did not hear a word you just said.’

Oliver frowns, stepping into the office and stopping in front of her desk.

‘Are you okay?’, he asks, and the concern in it does things to Felicity’s heart.

‘It’s been a long day’, she sighs, making him frown some more.

‘It’s barely noon.’

‘Oh god’, Felicity whines, rubbing on her eyes before remembering she has makeup on.

‘Hey’, Oliver puts a hand on her shoulder. ‘Are you sick?’

‘No, I’m just tired. A lot of work to do this week, I didn’t sleep a lot.’

He opens his mouth to say something, but Felicity cuts him off, shaking his hand away too.

‘And I know there’s nothing you can do about it.’

‘I wanted to apologize’, Oliver says very softly, too softly compared to her snappy tone. ‘I bailed out on you Saturday, and I-‘

‘It’s okay’, she waves his off. ‘Really. It was a sham, anyway’, she can’t help but laugh. ‘Charity auctions with people are a ridiculous concept, really.’

‘Okay’, Oliver says, slowly. ‘Still, I enjoyed our time together.’

Felicity blushes at that, and she can’t look up at him. So she starts arranging her pens around her desk.

‘And I was wondering if I could make it up to you. Another burger, maybe?’

She blinks down at her lap, then she blinks up at him. ‘Another date?’, she screeches, and he winces.

‘I’m not… I don’t think that I-.’, he stammers, making her confusion grow. ‘I’m not looking for anything right now.’, he finally says. ‘But I felt very… nice speaking with you. Calm. And you’re the first person who… treats me like a person.’

He’s not looking at her as he says it, and his fists are both clenched by her side.

She just wants to help.

God, it’s alarming, how much Felicity wants to help Oliver.

‘I’m over burgers’, she says after a couple of beats. ‘Pizza, though…’, she smiles at the way Oliver’s head snaps up to look at her.

‘Pizza, then.’, he smiles back.

It’s a blur after that, of exchanging numbers and setting a date and a place, and when he’s gone, Felicity goes back to work, willing the stupid smile off her face.

⃝+⃝

Because he was clear that it’s not a date, Felicity isn’t as nervous now.

She has to come here straight from the office, so her dress and heels are very out of place in the whole in the wall Oliver swore had the best pizza in town.

Oliver grins when he sees her, and gives her a hug instead of the kiss on the hand, and it still makes her blush, but it also make her grin.

They order a huge pizza, and Oliver was right, it is absolutely delicious.

As they eat, they don’t talk about heavy stuff. Oliver talks about his sister, and his best friend, and the club they’re buying together. Felicity talks about growing up in Vegas, about her work, but she explains how much she enjoys it, her love for computers and code.

He teases her, a lot. And if Felicity didn’t know any better, she would’ve thought he was flirting. But he’s not, he’s just enjoying himself. Most likely, he likes the way she gets riled up and how she makes a complete fool out of herself trying to sass him back.

Of course, his phone rings.

Once again, he answers with a joyous ‘Diggle!’, and once again, his expression grows gloomier with every second that ticks by.

This time, before he hangs up, Oliver says ‘I’ll grab the gear and meet you there.’

Felicity raises an eyebrow, but she gets no explication. What she does get is a lot of apologizing, again, a brief hug, again, and more money thrown on the table than the bill needs to be paid.

⃝+⃝

The next time, they accidentally meet as they’re leaving the office.

They walk in the park, for a bit, and this time, Diggle doesn’t call, he just shows up. Oliver introduces him as his driver, but Diggle says that there’s a situation. That doesn’t sound like driver slang.

Again, Felicity gets no explanation. She gets a brief kiss on the cheek and she has to promise Oliver she’ll text him when she gets home.

Which is sweet. But it’s not enough to make Felicity stop thinking about how weird Oliver is, sometimes.

⃝+⃝

The next time Oliver asks to see her (because he’s always the one to initiate these things), he takes her out during her lunch break. Once again, it’s Big Belly Burger, and Felicity doesn’t care anymore, that she’s wearing a designer dress and getting her fingers greasy.

Just as they’re about to leave, Oliver turns his head a certain way, and Felicity sees a splash of blood under his ear. She wipes it away before she consciously realizes it, and doesn’t miss the way Oliver freezes.

‘Sorry’, she says hesitantly. ‘You just… must’ve cut yourself shaving.’

Oliver nods, slowly. ‘Probably.’

He doesn’t kiss her cheek this time, and he doesn’t hug her or kiss the back of her hand, because they part ways in the QC elevator, with the head of Applied Sciences staring at them.

⃝+⃝

Felicity should be surprised, when she opens the door of her apartment in the middle of a working day, only to find Oliver on the other side, with takeout bags and hot chocolate.

She’s not surprised, her fever is too high for her brain to function properly.

Felicity eats the soup Oliver brought her, and she drinks the chocolate, and she wraps herself in a comforter, trying to hide her old pajamas. She takes too many pills and lets Oliver tuck her in, and she feels him kissing her forehead.

And when she notices the alarmingly large knife falling out of Oliver’s pocket on his way out of her bedroom, she’s too drugged to do anything but let him know he dropped it.

⃝+⃝

The next time they go out for dinner, Oliver takes her to a small Chinese place. He goes to the bathroom, and when he comes back, there’s a splotch of blood on his hand. Before Felicity gets to ask about it, he conspicuously wipes it off under the table.

⃝+⃝

Felicity’s not stupid.

She knows that Oliver is keeping secrets. A lot of them. Not just from her, but from his family too, probably.

They spend time together, yes, but she doesn’t _know_ Oliver. She knows what he likes and that he jokes and he teases, and it’s fine. And he talks about his family and his club, but he never gives things away. He never says something too personal and he never talks about the time he spent missing, or how that affected him.

After he said ‘You’re the first person who treats me as a person’, there was never any serious talk, not again.

They might be friends, maybe, but Felicity thinks that Oliver just needs her to not ask questions.

He flirts, sometimes, but he made it clear that’s not what he wants.

And Felicity, she doesn’t know what she wants.

She likes Oliver, a lot, and she realizes that she might be feeling something more than that, but she can’t. He hides things, lies and charms his way out of explanations.

He’s dangerous, probably. The blood and the knife are a dead giveaway.

Felicity wonders about it, but ultimately, she thinks she wouldn’t want to know.

What they have now is good. It’s mindless, it’s entertaining, he doesn’t ask much of her and she enjoys his company.

Oliver might be dangerous, but Felicity doesn’t think he’ll hurt her.

⃝+⃝

He’s walking her home one night, and Felicity is babbling about a new project she was put in charge of, when Oliver … freaks out.

He grabs her hand, forces her into a dark alley way, pushes her back to a wall and puts a hand over her mouth.

Their bodies are pressed together, and Oliver’s hand is hot on her face, his other one is digging bruises into her arm and Felicity's whole body is shaking and she’s terrified.

Oliver isn’t even looking at her. His head is turned, he’s clearly listening for something that’s still out in the main street, and then, there’s a gun shot.

Followed by three others.

Oliver doesn’t even flinch.

Without taking his hand off her mouth, he reaches with his other one for his phone. The conversation is short, Oliver orders Diggle to come get them.

They don’t wait long, and Oliver still hasn’t looked at her. He doesn’t look at her when he pulls his hand away and drags them to the car, either.

He just tells her not to look.

Of course, Felicity does. And she sees a guy lying on the street, in a pull of blood.

She shakes harder.

It’s only after they’re in the car, when Oliver starts talking. He tries to, at least. Felicity doesn’t let him. She yells, and it shuts him up.

In the end, she thanks him for taking care of her and gets out of the car without looking back.

⃝+⃝

The next night, Felicity is once again faced with Oliver on her doorstep.

‘I’m sorry’, he says.

‘Are you a serial killer?’, Felicity asks.

Oliver frowns. ‘No.’

‘Are you sure?’, she insists, making Oliver glare, slightly.

She lets him in.

That night, Oliver talks a lot. He doesn’t say much, just that being stranded on that island for 5 years changed him, and that paranoid awareness was just part of it.

He doesn’t explain, not really. As always, Oliver doesn’t give away any pertinent information on himself, while managing to calm Felicity down and placate her.

Oliver leaves, at her request, even if she knows he’s waiting for something from her. A reassurance, maybe, that they’re okay.

But they’re not. They’re really not. So Felicity asks him to leave.

⃝+⃝

She finds Oliver bleeding in the back seat of her car the next night.

He’s wearing a green hood, and he has a bow and Felicity feels stupid for not seeing it earlier.

At the Foundry, when Oliver is stable, Diggle explains some things. Everything makes sense now, and Felicity has a panic attack.

There’s blood on her fingers, Oliver’s blood, she’s in the basement of his club in the Glades, surrounded by arrows, there’s a man larger than a door telling her to breathe, and Felicity wants to cry.

She doesn’t.

Instead, she takes a deep breath and fixes Oliver’s network.

And she deletes the blood sample the Police have.

Then, she waits for Oliver to wake up.

⃝+⃝

‘Does that mean you’re in?’, he asks.

‘If I’m joining your crusade… I don’t know.’, Felicity sighs. ‘Why… why did you come back? Why did you… become my friend?’

Oliver looks away. ‘Because I wanted to’, he says in a slow voice, not looking at her. And she hates that, so Felicity forcefully grabs a hold of his chin and make him look her in the eyes.

‘Because you needed someone to act like nothing was wrong with?', she all but hisses out. 'Because you needed to perfect your lying skills? Because you wanted me to hack for you? Because you wanted into my pants?’

Oliver flinches at that, but Felicity doesn’t let go, she doesn’t let him look away.

‘Why?’, she asks strongly.

‘Because I liked you’, Oliver says in a rush. ‘I didn’t lie, Felicity, you are the first person to ever act like I’m human, ever since I came back. You read me like an open book and you didn’t expect anything from me. I needed that. I needed you.’

Felicity lets go of his chin, but this time, Oliver doesn’t look away.

‘And now?’

‘Now’, Oliver takes a deep breath, ‘I don’t want to lie to you anymore. And I need your help.’

Felicity laughs, bitterly, making Oliver take a step back.

After she calms down, she levels him with a look.

‘You will never lie to me again. Not by omission, not for the greater good, not for anything. I understand, that you might not ever want to talk about the island, and I respect that. But if this’, she waves her hands around, ‘has any chance of working, I need to trust you.’

‘And you don’t trust me now.’, Oliver says slowly, a question hidden in the statement.

‘I don’t know you, Oliver’, Felicity says somewhat desperately. ‘Please understand that. I know your jokes and your favorite type of cake, but I don’t know _you_. And I want to’, she sighs. ‘I really do.’

‘Okay’, Oliver nods. ‘I promise I’ll do my best.’

‘Good’, Felicity breaths out. ‘You can start by recommending me a good guy to change my upholstery.’

Oliver laughs at that. And, just as the first day they met, it makes Felicity unable to look away.

She’s in trouble, she knows she is. But hearing Oliver laugh… it might just be worth it.


	5. The modern day Robin Hood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _olicity high school theatre au: Felicity's set design and Oliver's the lead_
> 
> no, team Flash are the set design, Felicity is the costume design :>

Felicity has been part of the theater team all of her highschool life. Even if she was a coding genius and freakishly good at math, she enjoyed designing the costumes. Fashion always came simply to her, and the creative part of the process always made Felicity feel giddy.

This play is going to be her last one, graduation slowly approaching. They were doing a modern day Robin Hood adaptation, and even if she was weary at first, after reading the script and hearing Barry’s ideas for the sets, Felicity realized that it had the potential of being awesome.

It was weird, though, because in a shocking turn of events, Oliver Queen was cast as Robin Hood.

He never acted before. Not in school, and not anywhere else, apparently. But Felicity heard part of his audition, and he was surprisingly good.

But he was a jerk.

Oliver Queen was the definition of the typical highschool jock. He was hot, and every girl wanted to be with him. He was cocky and every guy wanted to be his friend. He had an expensive car, he changed girlfriends as often as his socks, he only hung out with the other rich, popular kids, he looked down on everybody else and beyond all that, he was a proper celebrity, on the count that his family owned a billion dollar company.

And, apparently, he was a good actor. Who knew?

○●○

They have been working on the play for about a month, and Felicity has yet to interact with Oliver.

Usually, she got to know the actors. Not Oliver.

Oliver only interacted with his fellow castmates and the director, he made no effort in getting to know anybody else.

But he always said ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. He was very polite, with the director, with the other actors, with the people in production. He was still demanding, asking for coffee and commenting on production things he shouldn’t, but he was… a lot nicer than anybody suspected.

Still, Felicity was glad his eyes never went to her.

○●○

A month and a half in production, the costume designs were finished and ready to be made. Of course, that meant Felicity needed measurements.

She went into the dressing room dreading it, finally meeting Oliver, but there was no need.

Because as Felicity took his measurements, as she tried to be as professional as possible and not think about how his muscles felt under her fingertips, Oliver spoke on the phone.

The ten minutes they were in the same room together, Oliver talked on the phone to his best friend, about the new car his parents were getting him.

He didn’t even spare a glance at Felicity.

Except when Felicity measured his ass, wrapping the measuring tape a couple of inches under his waistband. Oliver stopped talking, and raised an eyebrow at her.

‘Was that really necessary?’, he asked, cold and detached.

‘Yup’, Felicity didn’t look at him as she answered. ‘Leather’s a tough material to work with, I have to be thorough.’

Oliver raised his other eyebrow.

‘Leather?’

That made Felicity smirk and look at him. ‘We’re very thankful for the donation your family made for this production.’

With that, she turned around and left. Oliver didn’t say anything.

○●○

When they rehearsed, Felicity was usually backstage, working on the costumes. And when she was waiting for materials, she helped Barry and Cisco with the sets.

So Felicity heard a lot.

Oliver was good, there was no doubt about it.  He never messed up a line, and he always asked Digg, the director, for feedback, always taking it into consideration.

Felicity liked watching Oliver on stage. Especially those few seconds before he started acting.

He did this thing, where he straightened his body, put his hands around his back, closed his eyes and took a deep breath, holding it in for a few seconds. Then, he’d slowly let the air out through his mouth, and when he’d open his eyes, he was in character.

Completely in character.

Oliver’s eyes were soft and mischievous, whereas Robin Hood’s eyes were haunted. Oliver was playful and Robin was powerful. Oliver was happy, Robin was a tortured soul.

The play was a thriller, and Robin Hood was a dark, a very dark character. But the change, from Oliver to Robin, it was incredible to watch.

More than once, Barry had to forcefully turn Felicity’s face away. He kept snickering, and Felicity kept blushing, but thankfully, Oliver never saw it.

He never saw her.

○●○

Or so she thought.

Until Oliver stopped in the middle of rehearsing a scene and called her name.

He called for her, _Felicity?_ , and she blushed instantly. But she did turn around, ignoring how shocked Barry was watching her, and ignoring the sudden silence that fell over the hall.

‘Yes, Oliver?’, she managed to say.

‘How does the suit look like? Does it have a hood? Cause in this scene-‘

And he went on, and on, about how he’d like to incorporate the suit into some of Robin’s mannerisms. That in this scene, it would look cool if he’d take off the hood and on and on and on he went and there were 20 people in the rehearsal, all of them staying silent and staring at Oliver, and he never looked away from her.

‘The suit’, Felicity finally said, ‘is pretty badass. Yes, it does have a hood, and it’s easy to take off and put on again. And… uh. I, yeah, it could work. In this scene. It would’, she looked at the director, because Oliver’s gaze unnerved her, ‘It would look very good.’

‘Go for it’, Digg said, nodding along.

Oliver then went back to the scene, and everybody acted like nothing happened.

Except Barry, who asked if he traveled to an alternate universe. Felicity didn’t really have an answer to that.

○●○

Oliver was the only one who didn’t come to Felicity for a final costume fit. And there were only two weeks before the show.

She could have told Oliver directly, probably, considering he kept saying ‘hi’ to her every time their paths crossed, in rehearsal and in school. But Felicity didn’t. She asked Digg to tell Oliver about it.

That was her mistake. Because the next day, Oliver casually sat down next to her at lunch. He bid Barry and Cisco a polite hello, and asked Felicity if they could do the fit after rehearsals. Then, he asked if Caitlin was joining them, because he wanted to go over some English homework with her. She did come, and Oliver spent lunch talking with Caitlin, and Felicity spent lunch being very aware of the way his thigh was pressed to hers.

○●○

‘It looks good’, Felicity nodded when Oliver came out of the dressing room wearing the suit.

‘I’m not sure’, he frowned, ‘about the sleeveless vest.’

She just waved a hand around. ‘You’re going to have some arm pieces, I’m still working on them.’

‘Okay’, Oliver smiled and Felicity quickly asked him to turn around, she couldn’t handle him smiling at her.

‘I would’ve liked the pants to be tighter’, she mused out loud.

‘I have to move in them’, Oliver said in a slightly raised voice.

‘Yeah’, Felicity agreed. ‘Fighting scenes and stuff. Move around a bit, will you? Stretch it out, we wouldn’t want your pants to rip in the middle of the play.’

‘No, we would not’, Oliver said with wide eyes.

Then, he started moving. Stretching, lifting his leg up high and kicking at air. Felicity gulped and tried her best to not think about how Oliver would look like doing that naked.

It was a very hard thing to do.

○●○

On the day of the show, everybody was a mess, as usual.

People were running around, last minute things to do, and Felicity spent a lot of time helping the actors get into their suits.

Except for Oliver.

She left him for last, for reasons she didn’t want to think about.

Until Barry came to her, a wild look in his eyes.

‘Oliver locked himself in the dressing room, and he won’t come out, and he won’t let anybody in.’

Felicity cursed, but ran and knocked at his door.

Surprisingly enough, Oliver did open the door.

‘I told you Tommy, leave me alone!’, he was mad, clearly, but Felicity didn’t even realize he called another person’s name, because Oliver was shirtless. He was wearing the dark green leather pants he was supposed to, but he was shirtless.

‘Felicity?’, he snapped her out of it. And when she came back to her senses, she forcefully made her way inside of the room, closing the door behind herself.

‘Come on’, she said with authority, ‘you have to get dressed.’

He hesitated, so Felicity glared until he moved.

She wordlessly helped him into the dark green vest, but didn’t put his hood up just yet. Then, she put on the arm pieces, and his quiver and she handed him the compound bow the archery team lend them.

Oliver didn’t take it. He just looked at her.

He was pale and he was sweating. And his lips looked very red, like he was biting on them.

Felicity sighed and put down the bow.

‘Are you freaking out?’, she asked as kindly as she could.

‘I’ve never been on stage before.’, he said, quickly and whispering.

‘It doesn’t matter.’

‘A hundred people, all looking at me, they don’t matter?’, he all but screeched, even if he was still whispering.

‘No, because you can handle it.’, Felicity smiled. ‘You had a debutante ball, for god’s sake, and I lost count of the amount of times I saw you on tv, standing next to your parents at press conferences.’

‘That’s different’, he shook his head.

Felicity didn’t say anything, because it was clear that Oliver wanted to say something more.

‘Thea, she’s my little sister. She loves Robin Hood.’, he sounded desperate. ‘She’s so excited, she woke me up this morning wearing one of my green hoodies, telling me that I’m going to be the best Robin Hood in the world.’

Felicity smiled at that.

‘And my mother, she thinks this is ridiculous, she thinks I’m just doing it because I want more attention.’

‘Why are you doing it?’, Felicity asked quickly, wanting to change the subject.

Oliver sighed, looking away from her for the first time that night.

‘I’m not a very emotional person’, he said, stunning Felicity into silence. ‘But this, acting, pretending to be someone else, feeling what he feels… It makes me feel human.’

It took a couple of beats, but Felicity gingerly put her hands on Oliver’s cheeks and made him look at her.

‘You’re good, Oliver. You’re so good. I’ve been here four years.’, she smiled, willing her voice not to crack. ‘And I have never seen something so incredible as you becoming Robin Hood.’

He frowned.

‘Really’, Felicity insisted, applying more pressure on his cheeks. ‘The ritual you go through, when you slip into character, when you close your eyes as Oliver Queen and open them up as Robin Hood…’, she blushed but didn’t stop talking. ‘It’s mesmerizing.’

‘I’ve been here four years, and I’m not saying you’re the best actor I’ve seen.', Felicity went on. 'But you are absolutely perfect for this role. I promise you, you are good’, she smiled as widely as she could, ‘and you are going to knock the socks off of everybody in that hall.’

‘You’re just saying that to make my panic attack go away’, Oliver said somewhat breathlessly.

Felicity chuckled, moving her hands down his neck, reaching for the hood and putting it on.

‘What I’m saying’, she grinned up at him, ‘is break a leg.’

On an impulse, she pushed on her toes and kissed his cheek.

This time, when Felicity handed him the bow, Oliver took it. Then he took a step closer to her, and right before her eyes, Oliver closed his, and Robin Hood opened them.

Felicity shivered, how could she not?

Oliver smirked down at her, brushed his fingers down her arm and wordlessly left the room.

She had to take several deep breaths before her heart beat settled down.

○●○

Somehow, Felicity ended up sitting next to Thea. So she heard every time the little girl gasped, shrieked, whimpered or yelled.

The play went without a hitch. It was amazing.

Oliver was amazing.

When it ended, while everybody was up from their chairs and clapping furiously, Thea turned to Felicity and grabbed her hand.

‘That’s my brother!’, the little girl shrieked, delighted, and Felicity laughed. A lot.

○●○

When the actors came out after the curtain close, Oliver had his hood down and he left the bow and quiver behind. He was grinning somewhat manically, and Thea was screaming so loud, he had to shush her.

Then, his eyes stayed on Felicity for a while, and there was gratitude in them. And happiness. Oliver winked at her, and Felicity flushed. She didn’t look away, though. Not anymore.

○●○

Everybody involved in the Robin Hood production go out for pizza that night, and Oliver doesn’t leave Felicity’s side. He’s a constant wall of heat, he keeps brushing their shoulders together and absently putting a hand on her back or on her thigh.

He drives her home and on the porch, Oliver thanks her for everything and asks her out on a date.

Felicity narrows her eyes. ‘I can take care of myself, you know’, she teases. ‘I don’t need a superhero.’

Oliver smiles, softy, so softly, his eyes twinkling. ‘If anything, you’re my superhero, Felicity.’

She’s pretty sure that is the moment she falls in love with Oliver. But she can’t really think about that, she’s too busy moving her lips against his.


	6. Waking up in the wrong bed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The 'waking up married in Vegas' trope. This time, with Tommy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If the boys seem hella out of character here, it's because they're hella hungover.

Oliver wakes up feeling … dead.

His head hurt, he couldn't open his eyes because there was too much light in the room, his feet were cold and his mouth tasted like someone died in it.

So it took him a couple of seconds to realize that it was his phone that woke him up, that it was ringing. He fumbled for it on the bedside table, and answered it without opening his eyes or moving from the bed.

‘Congratulations!’, a highpitched voice shrieked, and it took Oliver a beat to recognize it.

‘Felicity?’

‘Congratulations!’, she said again, in a more normal voice. ‘I have to admit, I’m kinda pissed that I wasn’t invited, but still, I’m happy for you.’

‘What are you talking about?’, Oliver groaned.

There was a beat of silence.

‘Are you hungover, perhaps?’, Felicity asked, and he knew she was teasing.

‘Very.’

Felicity hummed. ‘And do you remember anything from last night?’

There was a pause on Oliver’s part this time.

‘I’m in Vegas’, he said, slowly. ‘Tommy wanted to celebrate me getting QC back.’

‘Yes’, Felicity said, barely holding back a laugh. ‘Anything else you remember?’

‘Not much’, Oliver groaned again and he was startled when someone groaned right next to him.

Oliver turned, slowly, and-

‘Tommy!’, he yelped. ‘What the hell are you doing in my bed?’

‘You’re in my bed’, Tommy groaned right back.

‘No, you’re in my bed.’,  Oliver went as far as shoving his best friend. It didn’t make much of a difference, Tommy didn't move.

Felicity started laughing.

‘Oliver’, she wheezed out, ‘check your hand.’

He frowned, but did as asked. ‘There’s nothing wrong with my hand.’

‘Check your other hand’, Felicity tried, still laughing.

Oliver looked at his other hand, the left one.

‘Why is there a wedding ring on my hand?’, Oliver screeched, real desperation seeping through.

Tommy started laughing.

‘You should make Tommy check his hand, too’, Felicity said, and Oliver turned around, shocked at seeing a wedding band on his best friend’s hand as well.

‘What the hell?’, Oliver managed to say.

‘You got married last night’, Felicity said, very softly. ‘Congratulations!’

‘What’s the matter?’, Tommy asked, upon seeing Oliver’s expression.

‘We, uh-‘, Oliver tried, unsuccessfully.

Felicity started laughing again. It just made everything a billion times worse.

Tommy was still looking at him expectedly, but Oliver couldn’t get the words out. So he held out his left hand, going as far as putting it on top of Tommy’s.

It took him a couple of beats.

‘Fuck!’, Tommy yelped.  ‘Did we… Did we really? Me and you? Fuck that’s wrong. What the hell?!’

Tommy was clearly freaking out. Oliver could relate, even if he didn’t have the strength to say a word out loud.

‘Calm down, boys!’, Felicity’s voice pierced through Tommy’s breakdown.

Oliver put her on speaker.

‘I’m an hour out’, she said. ‘We’ll fix it, I promise. Most of Las Vegas marriages break up in the first week, so they’re used to it by now.’

‘But-‘, Tommy tried.

‘Why don’t you guys go shower?’, Felicity cut him off. ‘I’ll bring you coffee and breakfast when I get there, deal with your hangover and then deal with everything else, okay?’

‘Okay’, Oliver said quickly, and even Tommy nodded.

‘Great’, Felicity was clearly smiling. ‘Now, lovebirds, I hope you’ll be decent when I get there.’

They both started denying things at that, but Felicity just laughed and hung up.

‘I’m really not ready to be married, man’, Tommy groaned, falling backwards, back unto the sheets.

‘I really don’t want to be married to you’, Oliver countered, also throwing himself back in bed.

‘Excuse you’, Tommy faked annoyance. ‘I would make a great husband.’

‘I’m sure’, Oliver closed his eyes. ‘You’re just lacking some… distinct qualities I’m very fond about.’

Tommy snorted. ‘Like boobs? Long legs? Blonde hair and glasses? Hacking skills?’

Oliver huffed, but didn’t dignify that with an answer. Tommy snickered, but Oliver was asleep long before he finished.

⃝⃝

‘Not that this isn’t one of my fantasies’, Felicity’s voice was clear in Oliver’s ear, ‘but come on, guys, we have work to do.’

It took a couple of seconds for Oliver to get his bearings together, to remember his earlier conversation with her and to open his eyes.

Felicity was at the foot of the bed, with her hands crossed and an impatient look in her eyes, and Tommy was still in bed with him, in the process of waking up.

‘Hello, Felicity’, Oliver said, in a very scratchy voice, and it made her smile.

‘Come on, I brought coffee and greasy food’, she tilted her head towards the door. ‘But you have to actually get out of bed for that.’

Oliver nodded, and pushed the sheet off himself and Tommy.

‘Oh god’, Felicity gulped. ‘You’re naked.’

Oliver looked down, and yes, yes he was. Him and Tommy both.

‘Uhm-‘, he tried saying, but Felicity was already running out of the room.

⃝⃝

When Oliver and Tommy made their way out of the bedroom, Felicity was still blushing, but her shoulders were squared and she had her _I mean business_ face on.

‘Look, I got to ask’, she started, as she wordlessly lead them to the kitchen, where food and coffee was waiting. ‘Do you want to do this?

‘What?’, Tommy asked, because Oliver was busy stuffing his face with fries.

‘I mean, I’m not gonna judge, of course’, Felicity started babbling. ‘Some people will, but not who matters to you. And you’ve known each other for a long time, it’s no surprise, really, and if you-‘

‘What are you talking about, Felicity?’, Oliver interrupted, frowning profusely.

She sighed. ‘Do you want to annul the marriage? Or do you want to stay married?’

‘Annul’, the two men said at the same time, without any hint of hesitation.

‘I may not be with Laurel right now’, Tommy went on, ‘but I am going to get her back, mark my words.’

Felicity smiled and that, her eyes quickly going to Oliver’s.

‘When I’ll marry you’, he raised an eyebrow, ‘I’m going to remember it.’

She blushed at that, and gaped for a while, but in the end, she rolled her eyes.

‘You do know you’re going to have to ask me out on a date before that, right? At the very least.’

‘After we annul my marriage’, Oliver nodded, easily.

Felicity just sighed again, but there was a small smile on her face.

‘You’re lucky you’re in Vegas’, she smirked. ‘And I still have friends here. In City Hall, for example. My highschool boyfriend agreed to annul the marriage quickly and without any hassle.’

‘How are you even here?’, Tommy said, startling her and Oliver both.

Felicity grinned. ‘I also have friends at the random chapel you two got hitched in. They called me, instead of the press.’

‘So the press doesn’t know?’, Oliver insisted.

‘No’, she shook her head. ‘And thank god for that, because you really didn’t need this kind of publicity right now.’

‘So you basically just saved our asses?’, Tommy grinned.

‘Yup’, Felicity smiled sweetly.

Then, she blushed again. ‘I have also seen your asses.’

Oliver and Tommy smirked in sync to that, making Felicity sigh and turn away.

‘Eat up, Misters Queen. Or Merlyn. Or did you hyphenate?’

Needless to say, neither of them answered.

⃝⃝

The marriage was annulled sooner than either of them suspected, and Tommy suggested they’d go out for drinks, to celebrate.

They didn’t, but Oliver did take Felicity out to a very nice dinner that didn’t end up in an impulsive Vegas wedding, but in a series of very lovely kisses.


	7. I know you don't deserve to live

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _Because I am feeling a bit anti Laural at the moment .... Laural gets it into her head that Felicity is to blame for Sara's death and gets in contact with Nyssa wanting her to kill Felicity. Nyssa knows that it couldn't be Felicity and decides to take her for her protection with Oliver going nuts_  
>  and  
> Anon asked: _Laurel says something really hurtful to Felicity, but Nyssa’s here and she’ll defend Felicity, because she likes her and, well, Sara really loved her, so…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Probably sometime in season 3.

Felicity was in the Foundry, while everybody else was out patrolling. Her phone started ringing, a number she didn’t recognize.

As soon as she picked up, Nyssa started talking fast and desperately, about how something was wrong with Laurel.

‘I just saw her half an hour ago’, Felicity tried reasoning. ‘There was nothing wrong, she seemed normal.’

‘She wants to kill you!’, Nyssa screeches, rendering Felicity completely silent.

‘Laurel is… unwell.', she goes on a bit more calmly. She’s got it into her head, that you’re to blame for Sara’s death.’

‘That’s absurd’, Felicity shakes her head. ‘Laurel knows that it was Merlyn-‘

‘She wants to kill you’, Nyssa says strongly. ‘She asked me to kill you, begged me. She didn’t listen to anything I had to say, even though I tried to remind her that it was Merlyn.’

‘Nyssa, that’s-‘

‘You don’t believe me.’

‘Of course I don’t believe you’, Felicity breathes out. ‘You’re talking nonsense.’

‘Fine’, Nyssa grits out after a beat, promptly hanging up the phone.

Felicity tries to ignore it, she really does. She has a lot of work to do on their network that night, so it’s not hard. The silence in the Foundry makes it easy for her to work, and it’s not long before she’s sucked into it.

So she doesn’t hear Nyssa come in. When Felicity does finally hear her, is because Nyssa tells her that it’s for her own good, as she prickle’s Felicity’s neck with something.

≡

Felicity wakes up in a bed, surprisingly, with Nyssa handing her a warm cup of tea.

‘This is for your own good’, Nyssa says, while Felicity tries to get her bearings.

‘She’s … out of reason’, Nyssa goes on. ‘Laurel is a stubborn woman on a normal basis, and now… She wouldn’t have stopped until you were dead.’

Felicity takes a deep breath and gets out of bed, heading for the door.

‘I’m not letting you leave’, Nyssa says, calmly.

‘You will’, Felicity yells at her. ‘Because if you would have stopped for a second to think about this, you would have realized that Laurel isn’t this idiotic.’

Nyssa doesn’t say anything, so Felicity wills herself to calm down and address her logic.

‘Laurel would never do anything like this, would she? She’d never kill an innocent.’

Nyssa nods, slowly.

‘I’m her friend, and now she wants to kill me, for something she knows I didn’t do. Something’s wrong.’

‘Yes’, Nyssa agrees.

‘Something is wrong with Laurel’, Felicity says a bit more forcefully, ‘and we have to figure out what. And fix it.’

‘I’m not putting you in danger.’, Nyssa shakes her head, making Felicity roll her eyes.

‘Thank you for that, really, I do appreciate it, but we don’t have time for this.’

‘Sara wouldn’t want you hurt.’, Nyssa says next, oddly soft.

It makes Felicity falter, a pang of hurt stabbing her heart.

‘I know’, she sighs. ‘But she wouldn’t want us abandoning Laurel like this. And, honestly’, Felicity takes a deep breath, ‘Oliver must be freaking out by now.’

A look crosses over Nyssa’s face, and even if it’s gone quickly, Felicity has to smirk because for a split second, Ra’s al Ghul daughter was clearly frightened by Oliver.

Nyssa nods, and together they head back to the Foundry.

≡

Oliver hugs her so tightly, Felicity hears a couple of bones crack.

‘I’m fine’, she mumbles against his neck. ‘I’m not hurt.’

‘She kidnapped you’, Oliver seethes out, in sync with Digg raising a gun straight to Nyssa’s head.

‘She was protecting me’, Felicity says forcefully, pushing Oliver away.

She takes a deep breath, and faces Laurel. She’s a few steps away, still in her suit, a staff in her hand. Laurel is glaring, quite murderously, at Felicity. It scares her, because she has never seen her friend like this. But it also breaks her heart, because this isn’t Laurel.

‘You stupid, horrible excuse for a human being’, Laurel says, slowly and hatefully.

‘Listen to me’, Felicity says calmly, ‘you know-‘

‘I know I hate you’, Laurel breathes out, shaking her head. ‘I know you don’t deserve to live.’

‘Laurel’, Oliver all but yells, ‘what the hell are you-‘

‘She killed Sara!’, Laurel yells, never taking her eyes off Felicity, rendering the entire room silent. ‘She killed my sister, and you all act like she’s a saint. There’s blood on her hands, I saw it. Sara’s blood and I…’, Laurel takes a deep breath. ‘I will get revenge.’

Then, Laurel moves. Quickly, raising her staff and heading straight for Felicity.

Oliver steps in front of Felicity, of course he does, and Laurel yells, clearly ready to go through him. She doesn’t get to do that, because Digg wraps his hands around Laurel’s torso and he manages to incapacitate her, mostly.

She starts trashing, though, waving her staff around, trying to kick at Digg. And she starts yelling, hurtful words that cut through Felicity’s heart.

But she manages to rush to the med bay, and grab sedatives. Laurel curses her, as Felicity digs the needle into her arm, and Felicity apologizes, tears in her eyes, as Laurel gradually calms down and passes out.

≡

Oliver’s eyes don’t move away from Laurel’s motionless body. Neither do Nyssa’s.

Felicity puts around, gathering blood samples and running them through the proper machines, hooking Laurel up with an iv, making sure she stays sedated.

It takes an hour for the blood sample to be processed,  and the result makes no sense to Felicity. So of course, she sends an e-mail to Caitlin and two minutes later, there’s a skype call.

‘Who’s blood is this?’, is Caitlin’s first question, and Felicity hates the concern in her eyes.

‘Laurel’s’, she answers, and explains everything, as best as she can.

At the end of it all, Caitlin sighs.

‘I think it’s some sort of drug, but I can’t be sure.’

‘Can you fix it?’, Oliver all but growls, but Caitlin just nods.

‘Barry and I are already working on an … antiserum. We don’t know what made it, what made Laurel act like this and her blood –‘

‘So it’s a biochem solution?’, Felicity interrupts. ‘It’s something in her blood, not… not in her head.’

Caitlin’s expression grows softer. ‘Yes, Felicity. There’s foreign bodies in her blood, we think that’s what is making her act… crazy. We’ll fix it.’

‘Okay’, Felicity sighs. ‘Please.’

‘Just be careful’, Caitlin smiles a bit. ‘Keep her sedated.’

‘And stay away from her!’, Barry’s voice comes from somewhere around Caitlin.

Both the women roll their eyes and share a smile, before closing the conversation.

≡

Barry’s in the Foundry three hours later, antiserum ready. Laurel wakes up a minute later, pretty frantic.

‘I’m sorry’, she rasps when her eyes fall on Felicity. ‘I’m so sorry.’

She’s crying, so Felicity doesn’t hesitate in pushing Oliver away from where he was shielding her, and running to Laurel’s side.

They end up in a pile of limbs, an awkward embrace with Laurel still sitting on a metal table, but Felicity doesn’t care. She just holds her friend until Laurel’s sobs quiet down and her tears stop spilling.

‘Right, then’, Felicity says. ‘Girls, I’m thinking a sleepover at my place.’

‘What?’, it’s Oliver that says it.

‘I wanna keep an eye out on you’, Felicity tells Laurel, ‘make sure the antiserum worked and there’s no side effects. And’, she turns towards Nyssa, ‘in case something did go wrong, you’ll be there to protect me.’

She knows Oliver wants to say something, but Felicity cuts him out.

‘And while a sleepover with you and Laurel sounds kinda fun and very hot, I’m not up for that.’

Oliver shuts his mouth, thankfully.

‘Very well’, Nyssa says, awfully amused. ‘I want a burger.’

‘And fries and milkshakes’, Laurel nods along.

‘And I have lots of wine’, Felicity grins, gathering her things and leaving Oliver and Digg alone and confused in the Foundry.

≡

The next morning, Felicity and Laurel come in wearing sweatpants and oversized sunglasses. Digg laughs and teases them a lot, while Oliver gets them coffee, and together, they start working on figuring out who was to blame for drugging Laurel.


	8. and unlike your anatomy, I'm glad I had it in me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [@Tigger23](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Tigger23/pseuds/Tigger23) asked: _i was listening to a p!nk song and the line " & unlike your anatomy, I'm glad I had it in me" is awesome. So I was wondering if you could do a breakup fic between Ray and felicity and have it be public_
> 
> Set at Digg’s wedding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a quicky

Oliver was returning from the bathroom when he heard it, just around the corner.

‘That’s ridiculous’, Felicity was saying.

‘It’s not’, Oliver heard Palmer’s voice next, clearly mad.

‘But it is’, Felicity insisted. ‘I told you, there is nothing going on between me and Oliver.’

Oliver knew he should’ve left. But he didn’t.

He wanted to punch Palmer in the face. Repeatedly. He didn’t.

He stayed in the shadows and held his breath, listening.

‘Every time you kissed me tonight’, Palmer said, ‘you checked before, to see that Oliver wasn’t around. Every time you held my hand, you did it under the table so that he wouldn’t see it.’

‘That’s-‘, Felicity tried, but Ray didn’t let her speak.

‘And I see it in your eyes, Felicity. How they light up every time he comes into the room, and how you smile when someone says his name. I’m not an idiot.’

Felicity sighed, when Ray paused.

‘And frankly’, his voice wasn’t as grave anymore, ‘I’m a bit insulted, that you thought you could hide this from me.’

Felicity clicked her tongue, and Oliver didn’t need to see her, to know that she felt insulted, somewhat, considering how many other things Felicity was hiding from him.

She took a deep breath, and repeated herself.

‘There is nothing between me and Oliver.’

‘That doesn’t mean you don’t want it.’, Ray said, strongly.

And Felicity didn’t say anything for a long, long time.

Oliver expected her to argue, to deny it again and reassure Ray about her feelings for him.

But Felicity didn’t do that.

‘I really liked you, you know’, she said, and Ray chuckled at that.

‘I’m sorry I’m breaking up with you at your friend’s wedding. I just… reached my limit.’

‘Yeah’, was all Felicity said.

‘You’re still my friend, though’, Ray went on. ‘And I still need your help.’

‘I’m still your VP’, Felicity said, and Oliver realized it wasn’t the answer Roy expected, but he didn’t say anything else, and Oliver heard him walk away.

He didn’t go to Felicity, not right away. He knew she needed some time to gather her thoughts, and sure enough, Felicity spent another 10 minutes alone in that hallway, before returning to the party.

Oliver spent those 10 minutes willing his heart beat to slow down.

He wanted her. God, how hard he wanted her. How stupid he has been. Afraid of hurting her, he pushed her away, straight into the arms of another man.

But now, that man let her go. Because of him.

Palmer broke up with Felicity because he could see how much she cared about Oliver.

That thought gave him enough strength to go back to their table, and ask Felicity for a dance.

‘I don’t think it’s a good time to dance’, she said slowly, even if she smiled at him.

‘I think it’s the best time.’, Oliver countered. ‘You either keep me occupied with a dance, or I follow Palmer and kick his ass.’

Felicity’s jaw dropped. ‘You heard us.’

‘I didn’t mean to’, Oliver nodded. ‘But I… couldn’t leave.’

She sighed at that, looking away from him, to where Lyla and Digg were dancing in the middle of the room. But then, Felicity wordlessly stood up and extended her hand to him, letting Oliver guide her to the dance floor.

They were silent for the first song, but Oliver didn’t let Felicity pull away when it ended. She huffed, but didn’t comment, and started dancing again.

‘I’m sorry about Ray.’, Oliver finally said.

Felicity didn’t say anything, but he pushed through.

‘I’m sorry that Ray left you because of me.’

‘He didn’t’, Felicity said quickly. ‘He left me because of me.’

Oliver had to take a shaky breath before he could speak again.

‘I’ve been a fool. Pushing you away… I shouldn’t have done that. And I’m not going to do it ever again.’

Felicity looked up at him, for the first time since they started dancing. She was watching him with a small frown between her brows, curious and hesitant.

Oliver smiled.

‘Are you doing this because you’re jealous?’, Felicity asked next, surprising him completely.

But he didn’t hesitate in answering.

‘No. I’m doing this because I love you and I’m too weak to live without you anymore.’

Felicity stopped dancing at that. She stopped breathing and her jaw dropped and her eyes were getting watery with every passing second.

Oliver smiled again, and leaned down. He didn’t kiss her, no matter how much he wanted that. He stopped just before touching her lips, because he wanted her to make a choice.

He needed her to be the one to chose. To chose him. And she did.


	9. Oliver's youngest friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _Felicity and Oliver are married and Felicity’s pregnant when Sandra (is that her name?) and Connor knock on their door_  
>  and  
> [aguscha333](http://aguscha333.tumblr.com/) asked: _Give me some Olicity pregnancy angst pleaseeeee! But full of cute Olicity. I love those fics!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not thaaaat much of cuteness, sorry. I can't... write pregnant!Felicity, for some reason

Oliver was a very good boyfriend, and he was an even better husband.

He cooked because Felicity couldn’t, he helped her with laundry and cleaning up the house. He mowed the lawn and went grocery shopping. And, most importantly, he made sure never to trek blood in the house.

And since Felicity found out she was pregnant, Oliver turned it up a notch. It was adorable, really, how he always made sure she was comfortable, how he offered massages and foot rubs every night, how he didn’t mind going out in the middle of the night to get whatever Felicity was craving.

He took care of her until the morning sickness went away, he went shopping with her when she couldn’t fit in any of her clothes, he stopped drinking coffee when she did. He was extra careful when they had sex, he drove her to and from work and he started working on the nursery a week after she shared the news with him.

Oliver was happy, and so was Felicity. He was protective, overly so, but Felicity didn’t really mind. They were good.

They were happy, and excited, and nothing could bring them down. Not horrible back pains or awful monsters terrorizing the city.

Their baby was going to be born in less than two months, and neither of them could wait.

●≡●

It was a late Saturday morning, and they were home, for once.

Felicity usually stayed home on weekends, if there wasn’t any big mission planned on the Arrow front. But Oliver joined her today, and they woke up late and spent the rest of the morning cooking. Well, Oliver cooked, pancakes and spinach muffins, Felicity just cut things.

When the door rung, Oliver was in the bathroom, so Felicity was the one to open it.

There was a brunette woman on the other side, that looked vaguely familiar, with an obviously anxious expression on her face. But she didn’t seem dangerous, and Felicity did have a bat close to her.

‘May I help you?’, she asked, politely, making the woman stop staring at her belly.

‘I’m sorry’, the woman shook her head. ‘Felicity, is it?’

‘And you are?’, Felicity frowned.

‘My name is Sandra. I dated Oliver a couple of years back.’

Felicity’s polite smile fell off her face.

‘Ten years back, actually.’, Sandra went on, tears forming in her eyes.

Oliver came back, then, and he froze at the sight of the other woman.

‘I’m sorry to barge in like this’, she said to Oliver, ‘but I really need your help.’

Felicity tried to leave them alone to talk, but Sandra insisted she was present.

So Felicity sat on the couch, her side pressed to Oliver’s, listening with  a surprising cold detachment to what Sandra was saying.

She and Oliver had a child together. His name was Connor. He was 9.

Moira paid her to disappear.

She didn’t regret leaving. Oliver was with Laurel at the time, and when he was thought dead, Sandra still didn’t regret leaving. Because his disappearance would have hurt her a lot if she was still by his side.

Connor was a smart kid, top of his class. He was on the soccer team and he watched Tom and Jerry every day.

He had Oliver's eyes.

Sandra was sick. A weird form of a pretty violent cancer. The doctors gave her 6 more months, tops.

She didn’t want Oliver and Felicity to take Connor in after she died, she didn’t expect that.

He would stay with his grandmother after Sandra would die, they already moved back to Starling, and they were already living with her mother.

But Sandra wanted Connor to meet Oliver.

He wanted Connor to still have a parent.

She didn’t expect Oliver to just start acting as a father, but she knew that it would be good for Connor, to meet Oliver.

‘I’m really happy for you’, Sandra said. ‘You have a wonderful wife, and it’s clear to anybody watching that you love her immensely, just as she loves you’, she smiled at Felicity.

‘And you have a baby on the way, and it’s a beautiful thing and I am so sorry for having to do this.’

Oliver didn’t say anything.

‘You made the right call’, Felicity said slowly, ‘coming to us.’

Oliver violently got up from the couch and left the room.

Felicity sighed, taking a deep breath before addressing Sandra.

‘Oliver’s emotions always got the best of him, I’m sorry.’

Sandra shook her head. ‘It’s a lot to take in. I don’t… Just think about it, please.’

Felicity nodded, absently going through the motions of getting Sandra’s phone number and walking her out.

She then found Oliver in their baby’s nursery, looking out the window. He started apologizing, but Felicity cut him off.

‘I love you’, she said. ‘Whatever you decide on doing next, I’ll be here with you.’

Felicity held Oliver as he cried.

●≡●

They went to the park the next weekend. Sandra insisted Felicity would be there, and she had no objections to that, because Oliver needed her.

Connor was a charming boy. He was cute, he was wearing a Flash t-shirt and he was very polite.

He introduced himself with his back straight and a grin on his face. He shook their hands and Felicity melted away a bit.

Oliver was looking very lost, and Felicity hated seeing him this way.

So she took Oliver’s hand and asked Connor about his shirt.

The boy spent the next ten minutes raving about the Flash, much to his mother’s exasperation.

Felicity couldn’t stop grinning, at the boy’s excitement and thinking about Barry, and even Oliver was smiling.

‘You know, Starling has his very own hero, too’, Felicity said, making Oliver freeze next to her. ‘A couple of them, actually.’

‘Yeah’, Connor scrunched up his nose, ‘Green Arrow’s cool too. He’s stronger than the Flash, isn’t he? Cause he doesn’t have super powers to fight the bad guys. But the Flash is way cooler.’

Oliver opened his mouth, probably to argue, but Felicity elbowed him and he didn’t say anything.

Connor caught the whole interaction, though, and he leveled Oliver with a glare, a surprisingly strong glare coming from a 9 year old boy.

‘You’re making this weird.’, he said.

‘Am I?’, Oliver blinked.

Connor nodded. ‘I’m smart, you know. I understand what is happening. I understand that you’re my dad , that you just found that out. And I understand that mom’s going to die soon.’

Everybody was rendered speechless at that.

‘And I understand’, Connor went on, ‘that you’re not here now to be my dad, you’re here to be my friend.’

‘I’d like to be your friend’, Oliver said after a beat, anxiously looking at the child.

‘Good’, Connor grinned. ‘As my friend, you can get me an icecream.’

Sandra reprimanded him for it, but Oliver waved her off, and he took Connor over to the other side of the park, to the ice cream stand, leaving Felicity alone with Sandra.

They talked small talk for a while, about how Felicity’s pregnancy was going, but then Sandra put a hand on her knee.

‘Thank you’, was all she said.

It took a few beats, but Felicity shook her head and put her hand over hers.

‘I’m not doing this for you’, she confessed. ‘I’m doing this for Oliver. He may not realize it now, but this… is a good thing. I’m sorry, that you won’t be here to see it, I am so sorry-‘

‘I’m okay’, Sandra smiled a bit. ‘I mean, I’m not, but I came to terms with it. I just didn’t want Connor to be alone.’

‘He won’t be’, Felicity squeezed her hand. ‘That I can promise you.’

They were silent until the boys came back.

●≡●

They went to the park every week, the four of them. After a month, Sandra stopped coming.

Sometimes, during the week, Oliver would pick Connor up from school, and they’d spend a couple of hours together, just the two of them.

Oliver fell for Connor, quickly. But that was okay, because Felicity grew fond of the boy, too. She wouldn’t mind having Connor in their lives from now on. Not at all.

Sandra wasn’t going to be there, and that brought a whole new pain for Felicity. But she kept her head high, for her sake, and Connor’s too.

●≡●

Her C-section was scheduled on a Sunday, so Felicity didn’t go to the park on Saturday. It didn’t matter, because Oliver returned with Connor and, surprisingly enough, Thea in toe.

The boy had a lot of questions, about the baby and about the procedure itself. While Oliver was very flustered, his cheeks red as a tomato, Felicity did her best to answer the boy’s questions, because she saw that he was treating it like homework, with detached curiosity.

Connor was silent for a few moments after he was done with his questions, but when he looked at Felicity after, he seemed anxious.

‘Will I be allowed to meet the baby?’

Felicity’s heart broke, in sync with Oliver’s face falling.

She didn’t hesitate in grabbing a hold of Connor’s hand.

‘I know this is a weird situation to be in’, she said softly. ‘But you are a very smart boy, and you understand it. You’re our friend, Connor’, Felicity smiled, ‘and Oliver and I would love for you to be Dee’s friend too.’

Connor frowned. ‘Dee?’

‘We’re going to name the girl Dearden. ‘

He scrunched up his nose. ‘That’s an old lady’s name.’

‘It’s our mother’s name’, Thea said breathlessly, and only then did Felicity realize that they haven’t told her yet. Still, Felicity smiled at her, as Oliver gathered her into a hug.

‘We’re probably going to call her Dee. Or Deedee.’

‘No’, Oliver said with as much authority as he could. ‘Not Deedee. Just Dee.’

‘Fine’, Felicity rolled her eyes. ‘Dee.’

‘I like Dee’, Connor said, grinning.

Felicity grinned too, just as she felt her first contraction.

●≡●

Nothing will ever compare with the happiness Felicity felt when she held her daughter in her arms for the first time, with Oliver looking at the baby girl in awe and adoration.

The next weeks were probably the hardest thing Felicity ever had to do, but she got used to the new lifestyle.

She got used to waking up in the middle of the night, to the dirty diapers and to having a baby sucking on her breast six to eight times a day.

But she also got used to seeing Oliver with their daughter in his arms, singing softly at her and blowing raspberries into her little tummy.

●≡●

Connor met Dee three weeks after she was born.

He spent hours next to her crib, talking nonstop at her, about all the good things that are waiting for her to grow up. About food, cartoons, playgrounds, toys.

Sandra had tears in her eyes, and really, Felicity wasn’t doing any better.

She thanked Felicity once again, and this time, they hugged it out.

●≡●

Sandra died in the middle of an autumn storm.

Connor called Oliver and told him simply, ‘mom’s dead’.

Felicity and Oliver rushed to get to the hospital, only stopping by Thea’s place, to leave Dee with her.

Connor wasn’t as bad as one would believe. He was crying, but he was strong, holding his head high and he was comforting his grandmother.

Just like Oliver, Felicity absently thought.

Still, when Connor saw them, he ran straight into Oliver’s arms, while Felicity did the polite thing and introduced them to Sandra’s mother.

She was a strong woman too, the type who didn’t take any bullshit. She took a lot of convincing, to let Felicity and Oliver pay for Sandra’s funeral, and she barely left Connor alone with them.

But over the next week, she calmed down, and in the end, she was very thankful, for Felicity and Oliver being there for Connor.

●≡●

Over the next years, Oliver saw Connor at least three times a week.

He didn’t call Oliver ‘dad’, and Oliver didn’t call him ‘son’, but they got to know each other, and they were there for each other.

Oliver helped Connor with homework, and when he couldn’t, Felicity did. He talked to him about girls and about fighting off bullies at school. When Connor turned 12, the Flash made a brief appearance at the party, talking to the kids and eating half of the cake.

Before he left, though, of course Barry had to play with Dee for a while, and he kissed Felicity’s cheek and hugged Oliver.

Connor was in awe, and he confided in Felicity, later, that his dad may not fight bad guys, but he’s a hero in his eyes. Felicity cried, because it was the first time Connor referred to Oliver that way, and because she knew Oliver would be so happy when she’ll tell him.

●≡●

Connor’s grandmother died three years after her daughter did.

Felicity and Oliver didn’t hesitate in taking Connor to live with them. It took some getting used to, having a teenager in the house, but it wasn’t particularly hard.

It was harder keeping their nighttime activities from him, but Connor was still a very smart boy, so he figured it out all on his own.

He didn’t seem mad. He wasn’t upset, that they never told him. He didn’t seem to expect Felicity and Oliver to say anything.

Because he took Lee, carefully placing her on his hip, and grinned down at her.

‘Our daddy’s a superhero, Lee. How cool is that?’

Oliver started crying, even before Felicity did.

●≡●

Three months later, they were all having breakfast together, when Connor leveled Felicity with a look.

‘How did you sleep?’

‘Good’, Felicity frowned. ‘Woke up a couple of times, but I’ve rested.’

‘And how’s your coffee?’, Connor went on.

‘I’m having tea.’

Oliver was frowning by this point, too.

‘Why are you having tea?’, Connor insisted.

‘I just felt like tea’, Felicity shrugged.

Connor looked to Oliver, then. After seeing his obvious confusion, the teenager groaned.

‘Superheroes are dumb.’

‘Hey’, Oliver spluttered, but Connor waved him off, getting up from his chair and grabbing Felicity.

He put his hands on her stomach, startling her into silence and leveled her with a fond and exasperated look.

‘When’s the last time you got your period?’

Felicity blushed, furiously, because this was her step-son, for god’s sake, he’s only been living with them for a couple of months and-

When she realized what Connor was implying, her jaw dropped.

‘Now you’re getting it’, Connor grinned.

Felicity turned to look at Oliver, who was gaping at them.

Connor started cackling, as he called Thea and told her to meet him at the drugstore.

‘Did that just happen?’, Felicity asked Oliver. He didn’t really answer, just kissed her senseless, and filled her up with orange juice.


	10. It's a superpower!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [fluffyanklesocks](http://fluffyanklesocks.tumblr.com/) asked: _Olicity + "How on earth can you do that?!"_
> 
> Five random times Oliver though Felicity was a superhero.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> quicky!

**→One**

The first time Felicity hacked into the Argus database, Oliver stared at her.

He knew what Felicity could do, she hacked into the SCPD, FBI and Interpol on a daily basis. But this was different. Even though Oliver didn’t know much about code and hacking, he knew this was different, from the way Felicity held herself.

Her back was stiff, she was biting on her lower lip, there was a frown between her eyebrows and a bead of sweat on her temple. And it took longer than usually, Felicity didn’t stop furiously typing for 20 long minutes.

But she did it, eventually, and she didn’t yelp or yell or cheer like she usually did. Instead, she sighed, deeply, collapsing back into her chair.

Oliver didn’t say anything about it, but a month later, when he casually mentioned to Waller that he had access to information from the Argus serves, she threw a fit. It was the first time Oliver saw Amanda truly angry, and all it did was make Oliver feel proud, and glad that Felicity was by his side.

 

**→Two**

True to her word, Felicity never again brought coffee to Oliver’s office.

But when Oliver needed it, when his body truly craved it, she brought him caffeine.

Black tea, a can of coke or an energizer. She never said anything, acted like nothing was out of the ordinary, barely looked at Oliver.

And he had no idea how she did it, but Felicity always came when things seemed very bleak, when Oliver was close to passing out from exhaustion. And she always knew what to bring him, she always knew the days Oliver wanted a hot cup of tea, or the ones where he needed an ice cold soda.

He has no idea how Felicity did it, but he was always very thankful for it.

 

**→Three**

When Oliver moved in with Thea in her loft, there were some things he had to get used to, especially in the bathroom.

Fruity shower gels and three different shampoos, hair curlers and hair straightners and things Oliver was sure could kill a man. Jars of wax, tons and tons of makeup and brushes and Oliver didn’t even know what dry shampoo meant, but he doesn’t think he wants to.

And then, it just gets worse, when Thea calls one night, as he’s leaving the Foundry, and asks Oliver to stop by the drugstore and buy her tampons.

Oliver blushes, he knows he does, and he freezes in his tracks, but he also tries to will his voice to sound as normal as possible when he asks his sister which type?

Felicity starts cackling then, wordlessly taking the phone from Oliver’s hand and asking Thea ‘What do you need, sweetie?’

Then, Felicity follows Oliver to the drugstore, and fills up the basket with tampons and pads and pain killers and chocolate.

Thea hugs him tightly when he gets home, even if she’s crying, and she all but demands Oliver get Felicity flowers in the morning.

 

**→Four**

Oliver just stares, silently in the background, as Felicity wipes the floor with Bruce Wayne.

Well, Batman. Felicity is calmly and logically wiping the floor with Batman. He followed a villain straight into Starling, and he got in the Arrow’s way.

So Felicity is, for lack of a better word, reprimanding him for it. Explaining to Wayne that not only did some strangers find out his secret identity, but the villain wouldn’t have been caught if it hadn’t been for the Arrow and his team.

Felicity told Wayne that he should contact the local superheroes if he ever moves his business in the future, for his safety and theirs. Then, she gave him her business card and told him to leave.

Wayne apologized, which is something Oliver knows he never did.

But Felicity got Batman to apologize. Oliver was in awe.

 

**→Five**

It was Oliver’s turn to wake up and deal with their crying baby daughter. He had his method, that usually worked. He fed her, then he walked around the room with her, and if she still didn’t fall back asleep, he’d usually take off his shirt and let the baby press her cheek against his chest, that usually got her to sleep.

But it wasn’t working today, and she kept on crying and whimpering, even after Oliver tried everything that he could think off.

After 20 minutes, a very sleepy Felicity came into the room, mumbling about drama queens, and she wordlessly took their daughter from Oliver’s hands.

Once she was in her mother’s arms, the baby quieted immediately, and three minutes later, she was fast asleep, back in her crib.

‘How on Earth did you do that?’, Oliver couldn’t help but ask, making Felicity turn to grin at him.

‘It’s a superpower!’


	11. Anything

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liv asked: _It made me think if you could write a chapter of someone kidnapping Felicity and saying they will only let her go if the Arrow show who he is, except this is all done in a public space therefore the media is filming everything, and Oliver doesn't plans on showing himself, but saving Felicity in another way, but then them hurt Felicity and he just takes his hood of and goes save her without thinking twice, please?_
> 
> Sorry, but I’m pretty sure Oliver would be desperate enough to didn’t hesitate in showing his face, especially by this point.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> quicky! hella quicky!

‘That’s ridiculous’, Felicity laughed, brokenly.

She was tied up to a chair, on a pile of explosives, in the middle of the Starling City center, in broad daylight.

Her lip was split and still bleeding, there was a gash on her forehead and her hair was a mess.

Still, she was glaring at the man in front of her, the man who kidnapped her from the office.

Captain Cold was wearing his winter jacket (which was ridiculous, Felicity couldn’t help but think, because it was over 100° outside), and waving his Cold Gun around.

But it always landed back on Oliver.

Oliver, who was standing very stiffly right in front of Cold. He looked devastated, even if he wasn’t hurt, Felicity was sure of it. Cold didn’t lay one finger on Oliver, and he still looked like he was about to collapse.

‘It’s simple, really’, Cold smirked. ‘You take off your hood, an entire country sees your face’, he pointed to the massive amount of cameras that were around, as soon as the media got hold of the information that someone kidnapped the CEO of Palmer Tech.

‘And I let Miss Smoak go’, Cold smirked on. ‘Easy.’

‘It’s ridiculous’, Felicity said again, willing her voice not to break. ‘What would you accomplish with that? And how can we trust you, that you won’t blow me up as soon as the hood is down?’

Cold actually smiled at her, and it looked like he was impressed.

‘The world finding out the real identity of a superhero is a wonderful thing’, he said, almost melodically. ‘Who knows what implications that might have?’

‘As far as your second question’, he raised an eyebrow, ‘we have a mutual acquaintance, who can easily vouch for me.’

Felicity scoffed.

‘Really, I keep my promises’, Cold smirked.

‘Yeah, well, why don’t you let me call him, huh?’, Felicity challenged.

Cold merely glared at her, before his eyes returned to Oliver.

Who still hasn’t said anything. He barely moved since he got there. He didn’t even arm his bow.

That was what made Felicity the most afraid. That, and the fact that she knew Oliver was desperate enough to do it.

‘Don’t’, she said, hoping Oliver would look at her. He did.

‘You can’t do it.’

‘I have to’, was all Oliver said, the voice modulator doing nothing to hide the desperation in his voice.

‘You don’t-‘, she tried, and Oliver cut her off.

‘You’re pregnant, Felicity!’, he all but yelled, and she swears the entire city was rendered silent at that. ‘I have to.’

Then, Oliver took a deep breath. First, he turned off his voice modulator, and then he threw his mask on the ground.

As his hand rose to grab the hood, Felicity started crying, desperately.

This will change everything.

He wouldn’t be safe anymore.

He wasn’t safe now, of course not, the Green Arrow was always in danger, but Oliver wasn’t.

Oliver was always safe, and now-

Now he was looking at Felicity, tears in his eyes, he was mouthing ‘I love you’, as he was slowly taking down his hood.

Felicity opened her mouth, prepared to plead with him again, but it all ended in a yelp, as she found herself enveloped in a brightly colored flash, and sure enough, between one blink and the next, she wasn’t sitting on the bomb anymore, but right next to the Police.

When she turned around, Oliver’s hood was still up, and Captain Cold had his hands handcuffed, as Barry and Cisco held him still.

‘You good?’, Barry, well, The Flash asked, and the Green Arrow nodded.

‘Thank you’, he said, making both the superheroes from Central City grin.

‘Congratulations’, Vibe said, but he made sure to look at Felicity, not at Oliver, keeping his identity still a secret.

The Flash and Cold were gone without another word, leaving Vibe behind. Cisco groaned.

‘I hate it when he does that.’

He turned towards the cameras, waved cheekily, then turned towards Oliver and asked for a ride. Felicity started laughing, thinking about godparents.


	12. Paint with all the colors of the rainbow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by [this post](http://obviousplant.tumblr.com/post/121284665608/renamed-paint-colors).  
> Oliver works at a paint store. Felicity keeps buying weirdly named paints.

Oliver liked working at the paint store.

There weren’t a lot of paint stores around. There were department stores that sold paint, yes, but their selection wasn’t as vast as the one the paint store offered. The paints were good quality, at a reasonable price, and their selection was virtually infinite. So they always had clients, and the store was doing well.

Oliver liked working at the paint store. It wasn’t a hard job, he filled his hours with stocking, he helped as many people as he could, and yeah, it was tedious, some thought it was boring, but Oliver found it relaxing. The most fun he had was when his boss let him name some of the paints. It happened from time to time (maybe because Oliver actually owned most of the business, he just didn’t care for managing it), and Oliver always chose ridiculous names.

Oliver never thought that he’d meet the love of his life in the paint store. And he never in a million years would have thought that his stupid paint names will be the reason they’d grow close.

≡Y40≡

When Oliver heard a young female voice say ‘Excuse me?’ behind him, he had a smile on his face before he turned around. He was always nice to customers, especially if they were the female type.

His smile faltered, a bit, when his eyes fell upon her.

She was beautiful, he could see it clearly, rosy cheeks and pink lips, bright blue eyes framed by thick glasses, blonde hair and legs for days.

But Oliver couldn’t get past the fact that she was wearing short jeans and a loose tank top, and they were both, as well as half of her exposed skin, covered in thick stripes of already dried black paint.

Still, after blinking twice, Oliver managed to snap out of it.

‘May I help you?’, he asked as politely as he could.

The girl, because she couldn’t have been older than him, breathed a sigh of relief, and smiled wildly at him, nodding.

‘Yes, I need The Eternal Darkness That Will One Day Consume Us All.’, she said sweetly.

Oliver blinked. ‘What?’

She smirked, ‘Or, as most people working here would call it, O53.’

‘Ah’, Oliver realized she was talking about a paint. ‘That… yes. Follow me.’

He sailed through the shelves, knowing exactly where he needed to go, and he fought back the need to turn around. She was following him, because Oliver heard the sounds her sneakers made, and he heard a few giggles.

Oliver only turned when he got in front of the shelf with O53, extending her a can.

She grinned, took it, and said she needed five more. Oliver nodded, a bit dazed, and helped her carry the cans to the check out. But he couldn’t let her leave without knowing.

‘I’m sorry, I’m very curious’, he started, and she shot him a knowing look.

‘It’s an art gallery’, she prompted even if Oliver didn’t really ask the question. ‘I’m painting an art gallery and white isn’t the only color that works with everything.’, she waved a can of offblack paint in his face.

‘Makes sense’, Oliver nodded, slowly, feeling flustered when she grinned at him. They shared one last look before she left, and Oliver went out back to grab more O53 cans to fill the void space.

≡Y40≡

When she came next week, she was wearing skinny jeans and a very flowery shirt. She was still smiling brightly, and her lips were pinker than last time, but she looked a lot more put together, and it wasn’t just the heels.

She came straight to Oliver, even if she passed three other employees on his way.

‘What’ll be this time?’, he smiled, and she seemed surprised for a beat, maybe because he remembered her.

She shook her head a bit, and pulled out her phone.

‘I wrote it down, so I wouldn’t mess up’, she explained. She took a deep breath and in the most girly, desperate voice Oliver has ever heard, she said: ‘The color of Stacy’s hair oh god I can still smell it baby if you’re reading this please call me I made a mistake!!’

Oliver’s face was red after three words.

‘In my defense’, he mumbled, ‘it was not a mistake, Stacy was crazy.’

When he looked up, the girl’s jaw was dropped.

‘Did you… are you the one naming these?’

‘Yeah’, Oliver admitted. ‘The boss lets me have fun sometimes.’

She was still shocked, looking at him in awe. She didn’t take her eyes off his face as she grabbed a hold of his arm, squeezing it tightly.

‘This is the best thing I have ever heard, and I need 4 cans of the color.’

‘Uhm’, Oliver blinked.

‘WN12’, she said, taking her hand away.

Oliver wordlessly led her to the right shelf, and once again, helped her carry the cans to the check out, and to her car.

Her name was Felicity Smoak, her credit card said, and Oliver was feeling like a creep for peeking at it. She drove a red mini and she had a pretty weird panda plushy in the passenger’s seat, safety belt on.

Oliver stared at it.

‘I’m painting a kindergarten.’

‘That’s an awful color for a kindergarten’, Oliver said before his brain could catch up.

‘Not if I’m painting sandcastles over it’, she sniffed, puffing out her chest.

Oliver stared at her, and didn’t really say another word before she took off.

≡Y40≡

Two weeks later, Oliver met her half way.

This time, she was wearing yoga pants and an MIT sweatshirt that was too big on her, she had dark circles under her eyes and her hair was messily piled on top of her head.

‘I need Barney’s Blood’, she said with conviction.

‘Coffee would work better’, Oliver found himself saying, making her frown at him.

‘I mean’, he tried smiling, ‘I didn’t know Barney’s Blood had magical properties.’

She still didn’t get it, and Oliver was blushing furiously by this point, but for reasons unknown to him, he pushed through.

‘You look tired, I thought you were going to … perform some ritual with Barney’s Blood, to give you strength. I’m sorry, it was a very bad joke.’

‘No, it was a good joke’, she said, well, whispered really, because her voice came out very scratchy, ‘I’m just running a fever and my brain is slow.’

Oliver frowned.

‘I’ll be fine’, she smiled, ‘after I get some V47.’

Again, Oliver wordlessly helped her, all the way to the car, and they were both silent. Before she left, though, she patted his shoulder twice.

≡Y40≡

Next time, she came in wearing leather pants and a corset, with some very high pointy heels.

Oliver stared, he knows he did, but he couldn’t move his eyes away. Or close his mouth. Or breathe, really.

‘Like what you see?’, she asked, very breathlessly, and Oliver had to move his legs, slightly.

‘What am I seeing?’, he managed to rasp out, making her snickered.

‘I need Tarantino Red’, she said.

‘And…’, once again, she pulled out a phone, ‘Help! I’m a Ghost! They’re liquefying us for pure white color! THEY MUST BE STOPPED! OH GOD PLEASE HELP!!!!! Hahaha JK I’m not a ghost. It’s just me, Oliver, the guy who names these paint colors.’

Once again, Oliver found himself blushing furiously.

‘My name is Felicity, by the way’, she grinned. ‘And I’m painting a sex dungeon now.’

The noise Oliver made was pretty embarrassing, but it couldn’t be stopped.

‘Hence the outfit’, she went on, waving a hand in front of her body, which only brought his attention back to it.

‘How…’, Oliver willed himself to look at her face, ‘why are you painting a sex dungeon?’

‘I paint rooms’, Felicity smiled, like she was explaining something to a small child. ‘In my spare time, for charity. And this is for an organization that deals with people with AIDS. While they do promote prevention, they also promote safe sex for people already sick… hence the sex room. Which is in a basement, so the sex dungeon. Just a controlled, safe environment. I figured red and white would be good for it, right?’

Oliver couldn’t really say anything. She laughed, and patted his shoulder again.

‘Come on, Oliver’, she said playfully. ‘G14 and R49’.

He wordlessly helped her out, but before she left, Felicity gave him a very chaste kiss on the cheek.

≡Y40≡

‘I just don’t get why I have to be involved in this’, Oliver sighed, for the billionth time.

‘I’m not like you’, he told his mother. ‘I’m not a celebrity, I have no involvement in the company, I don’t get invitations to fancy galas and shit like that anymore. I make my own money, pay my own bills and I like it. Love it, actually’, he growled. ‘Why are you making me do this?’

‘Because your sister insisted’, his mother sniffed. ‘This organization is very important to her, and this day care is her … pet project. She’s not asking this of you because you’re Oliver _Queen_ , she’s asking because you’re her brother. So you’ll be there.’

‘Fine’, Oliver gritted out. ‘I’ll be there.’

And thus, Oliver knew that next month, he will be miserable at the day care his sister’s ngo designed at the city’s community center, attending an opening party he will be hating.

But it was Thea, so of course he will be there.

≡Y40≡

‘Y40’, Felicity said the next time she came into the store, looking pointedly at him. Oliver… didn’t know how to read the look, so he nodded and walked her to the right shelf.

‘Yellow’, he read the card, ‘is it me you’re looking for?’

‘Yes’, Felicity said, somewhat breathlessly, making him turn to look at her, confused. ‘Now will you please ask me out, already?’

Oliver took a deep breath, and told her that his shift ended in 10.

≡Y40≡

Oliver was almost late to Thea’s day care opening.

Because the evening before, he went on his fifth date with Felicity. And it ended in her apartment, against the door, on the kitchen table and finally, in her bedroom.

He left after, but didn’t have a lot of time to sleep.

So, he was almost late. Almost.

Still, Oliver got there after Felicity.

Which… what?

He stared. At where Felicity was, across the room, wearing a short red dress, with a gold clutch in her fingers, and her hair braided up. Oliver could see the mark his teeth left above her knee.

He also saw that she was talking animatedly with Thea and his mother.

And then Thea saw him, and waved him over. And Felicity turned around, smiling, but her smile fell when her eyes landed on him, and she paled.

He paled too, probably. But he made his way by their side, somewhat mechanically.

After Thea kissed his cheek, she introduced Felicity. The head of the IT department at his family’s firm, and a marvelous painter, she painted the entire day care.

‘You’re Oliver Queen?’, Felicity all but yelped, looking up at him with wide eyes.

‘Well’, he managed to say, ‘at least I know you’re not after my money.’

‘Was…’, Felicity blinked, ‘that a real concern?’

Oliver nodded, absently grabbing a hold of her hand. ‘We’ve been dating for two weeks, didn’t you think it was weird I never told you my last name?’

‘To be fair’, Felicity frowned, ‘you didn’t ask where I worked either.’

‘Yeah’, Oliver nodded. Then, because he thought Felicity didn’t really seem mad with him, he placed a quick kiss on Felicity’s brows, to unfurrow them, and on her lips, because he couldn’t be near her without doing it.

Oliver’s mother cleared her throat, making both of them instantly blush.

‘Uhm-‘, Oliver tried. ‘You see, I uh…’, he looked towards Felicity for help.

‘I feel for his stupid paint names’, she rolled her eyes, ‘and asked him out using the one named _Yellow, is it me you’re looking for?_ ’

Thea cracked up at that. Even Oliver’s mother smothered a smile.

He figured they were good, so he put his hand around Felicity’s waist and congratulated her and Thea both on their marvelous work.

The women around him just started laughing harder.


	13. the JLA conundrum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _Would love to see something where Oliver feels seriously insecure about his intelligence around Felicity. Like, maybe they're dating and he meets one of her smart college friends / old boyfriends, and realizes just how smart Felicity is._  
>  and  
> [Wiz asked: _Arrow gets really sad when Felicity gets an invitation to join the JLA?_](http://mr-stevens-head-of-catering.tumblr.com/)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you tell I don't know shit about the JLA? I mean, I know that the peeps from Legends of Tomorrow are not in the JLA, but I just... winged it.

To say that Oliver was feeling weird was an understatement.

Don’t get him wrong, he did realize that the Justice League of America initiative was a good thing. There were people out there, things, that were way beyond the strength of a single hero, no matter how super he or she was. The world needed the JLA. And Oliver was grateful for being part of it, for the extra protection the JLA gives to his city.

But on a personal level, Oliver felt… inadequate.

He could fight just as well as Batman did. He could strategize as well as Wonder Woman did. He could detach himself as well as Superman did.

But beyond that… they aren't friends. Oliver isn't friends with these people. Not like Felicity is.

Her company works closely with Wayne Industries, and even when he is in full Batman gear, Felicity still calls him Bruce and ignores all his flirting attempts, with a fond smile on her face.

She gets a hug from Superman every time they see each other, and Oliver would hear her talking on the phone with him sometimes, always talking about Lois and beyond the teasing, she’d give him advice.

With Hawkgirl, Felicity has a very weird relationship. Usually, they’d just sit in a corner, hunched against one another, whispering and giggling while staring at the various men around them.

Felicity always addresses Hawkguy as “Mister Hawk”, and she always coos when the couple displays any form of affection.

Her relationship with Ray isn’t as awkward as Oliver thought it would be. She assured Oliver, that they were both completely over whatever has happened between them, and it seemed that way. They still flirted, sometimes, but Oliver knew that it was unintentional. They joked around and teased each other, and more often than not, they spoke about their work in words Oliver didn’t understand.

She always keeps her distance from Captain Cold and Heatwave, but Oliver doesn’t miss the way Felicity’s eyes would stray to Snart every now and then, mostly to his ass. And she’ll always try to hide her reactions, to anything he said. More often than not, she'd be stifling a laugh.

Felicity looks at Rip Hunter like he's a god. He doesn't seem to notice it. Same goes for Aquaman.

There is no doubt about it, Felicity and Barry are some sort of soulmates. Again, another set of discussions that Oliver didn’t understand, that he couldn’t keep up with. Beyond her love for Oliver, the relationship Felicity has with Barry is the strongest she has in the JLA. Hurt The Flash and beware of Felicity Smoak’s wrath.

She regards Stein like she does Chief Lance: with a lot of respect.

She acts like Cisco is her little brother, much to his dismay, and she has weekly Skype dates with Caitlin, where they’d eat the same thing and drink the same wine. It's kind of adorable.

When Nightwing comes along, it’s the first time Oliver feels threatened in his relationship with Felicity. Because it’s worse than it is with Barry or Ray, because they’re on the same page perfectly, two hackers lost in their world. But Felicity’s eyes never strayed from Dick’s eyes, and Oliver calmed down.

The only person in JLA that Felicity acts coldly with is Wonder Woman. Every time Diana would end up at Oliver’s side, Felicity would find some sort of excuse to interrupt. She's jealous, and Oliver would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy it.

But now, he wasn’t enjoying herself. Because Wayne, Barry and Cisco, Dick and Ray were all around Felicity, and they have been talking for an hour, Oliver doesn’t even understand about what piece of tech.

And while Oliver is proud, so proud of his wife, he feels absolutely stupid. He tried to keep up with their conversation, he tried his best to understand what they were planning, but he lost that battle pretty early on.

‘Are you jealous?’, someone startles Oliver out of his thoughts, and when he turns around, Diana is watching him, very amused.

‘I’m not jealous’, he answers gruffly, turning around to look at his wife again.

‘Is this… a matter of superiority?’, she goes on, making Oliver sigh.

He has no idea how she does it, but Wonder Woman is the only one in the world, besides Felicity, that sees right through him, every single time. So Oliver doesn't bother denying it.

Diana huffs, stepping even closer to him, so that she could lower her voice, making sure nobody around hears them.

‘You deserve to be here just as much as anyone of us, Mister Queen. Your pure humanity makes you no less of a … superhero.’

Oliver smiles, grateful, but that isn't really his problem right now.

‘As for the petty jealousy every husband feels’, Diana smiles, knowingly, shaking her head and looking towards Felicity, ‘the love your wife holds for you is quite… powerful.’

‘I know that’, Oliver finds himself saying.

‘Then what’s the problem?’, Diana frowns.

It rakes a few seconds for Oliver to answer, and he knows that he probably shouldn’t, but he does answer, probably because of some weird superpower Diana has that he doesn't know about.

‘She’s better than I am’, Oliver takes a deep breath, ‘and I fear that I’m not able to keep up.’

Diana chuckles at that, surprising Oliver.

‘You are a good husband, Mr. Queen’, she smiles at him. ‘She’s a very lucky woman.’

Oliver doesn't get to answer, because Felicity appeares by their side, politely excusing themselves, saying that they need to check on their daughter.

‘About that, Mrs Queen’, Diana smiles politely, ‘I’m very disappointed in you.’

That shocks both the Queens into silence.

‘All mothers are proud of their offspring’, Wonder Woman goes on, ‘but I have yet to see a picture of your child.’

She rolls her eyes next. ‘When The Flash isn’t talking about his adventures, he’s talking about your daughter. In a very high pitched voice’, Diana smiles. ‘It would be nice to match a face to the stories.’

Three minutes later, Felicity is telling a bed time story to their daughter, over Skype, and Wonder Woman is sitting right beside her, their shoulders pressed together so that they can both see the baby, the rest of the JLA acting like they weren’t listening in, when in fact, they all stopped whatever they were doing, and they all had smiles on their faces.

‘Queen’, Wayne whispers to him, ‘I don’t know how you did it, but your girls are wonderful.’

‘Amazing’, Dick adds.

‘Pretty awesome’, Clark claps him on the shoulder.

Barry just grins and Captain Cold huffs, muttering about vicious men who turn into marshmallows at the sight of babies.

And then, Oliver hears his daughter saying ‘Dada’ over and over again, and he couldn’t care less about the JLA, as he makes his way to his wife’s side and all but shoves Diana out of the chair, so that he could kiss Felicity and say goodnight to their daughter.


	14. Uploading...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked for a Ghosthunter!Au. I changed it into a Youtube AU. Which evolved into an NYX Face Awards AU. Just go with it.

Oliver has been on Youtube for five years, even before he got his degree in film making. He did some vlogs, on the side, and some game play-throughs for fun, but most of his channel consisted of short films. His own creations, from writing to editing.

Sometimes, his sister helped him with makeup. More often than not, his best friends, Tommy and Digg, they helped him with sets or camera work. He had over a million subscribers, and he earned enough money to live by, and to pay his friends for their help. Even if he didn’t really need the money, because his family was rich.

It was a good life, that Oliver had. He loved his job, he had friends. Sometimes, being in the public eye got too much, but it was nothing he couldn’t handle.

He got invited to a lot of events, he met a lot of people, fellow Youtubers and bloggers, so Oliver didn’t really have time to feel alone. Sometimes, late at night, he’d hate the empty space next to him on the bed, but it was okay. Oliver was okay.

Happy, even, with a camera in his hand and his apartment filled with scrapped scripts.

ISO100

Oliver met Felicity Smoak two years ago at VidCon.

He didn’t have a lot of contact with the beauty community on Youtube, but Thea did. She dragged him along at some of her events, and he helped her film her makeup tutorials every now and then.

So when she greeted Felicity like a best friend, Oliver was pulled along.

She was nice, Felicity. A bit crazy, but adorable. Oliver would be lying, if he said he didn’t watch her videos. He didn’t know much about makeup, but he could appreciate her efforts. Her videos were very high quality, from a film making point of view, and she was a very charismatic young woman, Oliver enjoyed watching her.

They saw each other, every now and then. It was unavoidable, considering they lived in the same town and they were both successful youtubers. There were parties, and various events, and Oliver’s eyes always lingered on Felicity, because she always looked amazing.

Thea figured it out. She kept smirking at Oliver, but thankfully, she didn’t say much. But she did start hanging out with Felicity more. And because the Queens siblings lived together, Oliver started seeing Felicity a lot more.

They got to know each other, and Oliver liked Felicity. A lot. He liked her enough to let her put Halloween makeup on him for her videos, he liked her enough to film ridiculous tags with her, he liked her enough to film vlogs when they were out for dinner, he liked her enough to record himself playing Mario with her.

It didn’t take long for them to become friends. It didn’t take long for their subscribers to merge together, and to start shipping them. They both dealt with it with a joke and a smirk on their faces.

ISO100

It wasn’t uncommon for Felicity to show up at their apartment late at night. But it was uncommon for her to come when Thea was away for a month on vacation.

Oliver invited her in and wordlessly opened a bottle of wine, but Felicity seemed distracted and nervous. She wasn’t wearing makeup, which was a weird sight for Oliver to see. Felicity was still beautiful, of course, but it was… unnerving.

‘What do you know about the NYX Face Awards?’, Felicity started, very hesitantly.

Oliver knew quite a lot. It was a makeup competition, and Thea participated last year. She didn’t get to the final, but Oliver helped her film along the way.

Then, Felicity went on explaining. That she wanted to participate, but she had a lot of ideas, that were beyond her capabilities. She wanted Oliver to help her, but she didn’t want to pressure him into it. Because it will take a lot of work, and it will take a lot of his time, and it was just an idea, she kept saying.

‘What’s the first challenge?’, Oliver asked after she finished ranting.

‘There isn’t one, it’s just an entry. But I’m doing Ghostbusters.’, Felicity blinked, and Oliver raised an eyebrow.

‘Do you have any ideas for it?’, he went on.

‘For the makeup, yes’, her eyes lit up. ‘A lot of ideas, good ideas. But I won’t get anywhere without an intro and-‘

Oliver stopped listening to her. Instead, he went into the office, which was half filled with Thea’s makeup, half filled with his papers and left over props, and had a large filming area in the middle.

When he came back into the living room, he had a few papers in his hand, which he handed to Felicity and urged her to read.

She did read them, silently, pouring over the three half-written scripts that Oliver had, that fit the challenge, somewhat.

‘You can do this?’, she asked, somewhat breathlessly, waving a single piece of paper around.

Oliver plucked it from her hands, to see which one it was, and quickly went over it, cataloguing in his head what props and set they would need. He nodded.

‘And you’d do this for me?’, Felicity asked, and Oliver hated the fact that she seemed so hesitant.

‘Of course, Felicity’, he poured as much strength into his words. ‘You’re my friend, and not only is this an opportunity to spend time with you, but it’s an opportunity for me. I’ll get to put my ideas into film, and I’ll have fun doing it.’

‘But you won’t have time for your channels’, she tried.

Oliver waved her off. ‘I’ll manage. They’ll understand.’

And Oliver had no doubt of it. His subscribers will be delighted that he’s working so closely with Felicity. And he knew, that together, they could make some awesome things. For a makeup competition, okay, weird, not Oliver’s usual cup of tea, but still.

Felicity smiled. ‘We have two weeks. I’ll make some face charts tomorrow, for the makeup.’

‘It’s going to be a ghost?’, Oliver asked, and she nodded.

‘And you want to do this?’, he waved the script around.

‘Desperately so’, Felicity’s eyes twinkled again. ‘It sounds like a lot of fun.’

Oliver grinned. ‘I’ll go over the script, then. And draw some storyboards.’

Oliver was excited. And so was Felicity.

ISO100

They met again the next evening, pouring over everything. Felicity had two major ideas for the ghost, and Oliver only saw them on paper, but they still took his breath away. In the end, he convinced Felicity to incorporate them both into her look.

As far as the script went, it was a simple Blairwitch Project sort of thing. But because Felicity’s ghost had steampunk elements to it, they’d be filming it in an abandoned building. Actually, Oliver spoke with his father, who gave them access to QC for a couple of nights. Felicity all but started crying when he told her that.

Oliver was the main character of the intro story, so they started with filming that. It took three different sleepless nights and a lot of work, but the two of them did it all by themselves.

The story was that Oliver was a ghostbuster, and he was investigating the building, which supposedly was haunted. The video would start with Oliver vlogging, basically, explaining the premise of his investigation, walking through the deserted halls.

But, as he went deeper into the building, things would get creepier. They played a lot with lights and Oliver had a vision, in terms of editing and post processing. They also filmed a few wide shots, of him running down the halls and other general shots. He hoped it’ll all end up as well as it looked in his head.

On the day they were supposed to film the makeup look and the ending of the video, when Oliver finally stumbled upon the ghost, Felicity came by his apartment at lunch, carrying a huge suitcase with her, filled with her own makeup products.

It took her about four hours to do the makeup, and another two hours of preparation before. Meaning they had a long lunch, drank some beers, and personalized the filming area a bit.

Oliver was in awe, really. He saw all the process of Felicity putting on her makeup, but in the end, he barely recognized her.

Her skin was paler than usual. Not fully white, but… dead. She had full black sclera contacts in her eyes, and those freaked Oliver out. Completely. Her eye makeup looked like bruises, her lips were pale, but slightly bloody and there was a lot of highlight on her face and body. She was glowing, big chunks of glitter glistening in the light, but there was no doubt about it, she was a ghost.

Felicity incorporated the stempunk element with a series of different sized gears. They were all painted a very light silver, which enhanced her ghostly look. She had a couple over one of her eyebrows, on her cheekbone, on her collarbone, a very tiny one on her bottom lip. She stuck a long series of them on her upper arms, thus making fake sleeves for her white, translucent dress. She also had a couple on her fingers, once again, matching her white, extra long nails.

She painted most of her hair white, and silver on the ends of it, styling it carefully, until it fell over her shoulders in messy curls.

‘I have no words’, was all Oliver managed to say.

After a beat, he felt the need to add something. ‘If you’re this amazing for the first challenge, what are you going to do for the rest?’

Felicity just grinned, and they headed out to film.

Which was an experience. They called Digg to help them with the camera work, because now Felicity and Oliver had to appear together.

It was an experience, for Oliver. There weren’t any lines anymore, he just screamed and whimpered a lot. But Felicity was… something else. Her ghost persona was cocky, sexy and the script said she would torture Oliver. Felicity did just that, and it was hard, for Oliver to act being scared, when in fact he was very … aroused.

They got home as the sun was rising, both exhausted but too hyped to actually sleep. Felicity took a long shower, and Oliver heard her cursing about _stupid paint why did I do this why_ , as he cooked them breakfast. Felicity crashed in Thea’s room, and when Oliver woke up the next morning, all the footage was already imported into her computer.

Felicity spent the next three days in Oliver’s apartment, as they both edited away. She did the makeup portion of the video, and Oliver did the intro film, but she was by his side constantly, because while Oliver had a vision, it was her entry. But thankfully, they were on the same page more often than not.

By the end of it, they had a 3 minute short intro film, followed by a 6 minute makeup tutorial, followed by a minute outro.

Oliver loved it, really. Felicity did too. They both passed out for 12 hours, as the final video was still exporting.

ISO100

Felicity got into the Top 30. Of course she did. They were out for drinks, and Felicity kept refreshing the announcement page, and when the results finally came in, Felicity screamed, spilled her beet onto her front, and hugged Oliver tightly.

ISO100

The actual first challenge was Timeless Beauty.

They didn’t work on it as much as they did for the entry, but the result was just as good. Felicity did a very futuristic look, sort of alien looking, but still enhancing her natural beauty. And for the intro film, they just made a short story, about a time traveler stuck in the past.

She made it into the Top 20. This time, they weren’t together when it was announced, but when Felicity called Oliver, she still screamed a lot.

ISO100

The next challenge was Paranormal Activity.

For it, Felicity did a full body look, of a pop art zombie/skeleton mashup, which, apparently, was a very popular trend.

The makeup tutorial part of the look was tricky, because Felicity had to paint her whole body. That meant that she spent the day in Oliver’s filming room, wearing nothing but a pair of skin colored underwear and a strapless bra.

It was a long day for Oliver, especially considering the fact that he had to help her paint her back.

But the end result was pretty amazing, and for the intro, they went out to a club, because Felicity used UV paints. They didn’t have an actual script for it, so Oliver spent a few hours just filming Felicity dancing, surrounded by people who were staring. Some men would get too handsy, but Oliver took care of them, easily.

Felicity danced with more women, anyway. Oliver wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing.

ISO100

She made it into Top 12, and when she found out, she was sprawled out on Oliver’s couch, just watching him record a vlog. Felicity interrupted him, not bothering to cut off the camera, and she kissed his cheek and thanked him a billion times. He let the footage in the vlog, much to his viewer’s pleasure.

ISO100

The next challenge was Mermaids.

Felicity already owned a mermaid tail (Oliver didn’t ask), and his parent’s house had a pool, so the intro was pretty much settled.

Her mermaid was a monster, a siren, Felicity supplied, with sharp fangs and exposed bones, but it was still glamorous, with glitter and color.

Waterproof color, considering the makeup didn’t budge when they filmed the intro in the pool.

Oliver’s parents were staring, but he ignored them.

The script was short, it involved Oliver falling for Felicity’s siren song. It wasn’t hard to film, theoretically, but the last shot of the intro was of Felicity halfway out of the pool, Oliver kneeling in front of her. Her hand was in his hair, her sharp blue nails digging into his skin, fake blood pouring out, and she was pulling him in, their lips close, very close, but not close enough to touch.

After the makeup tutorial, the outro of the film consisted of a blooper, really, in which Felicity pulled Oliver into the pool. There were swear words, that had to be beeped out. Felicity was laughing, his mother was laughing too, handing him a bunch of towels. It was a pretty good video.

ISO100

Felicity got the call when she was as Oliver’s apartment. The man from NYX asked her if Oliver was around, and the phone was put on speaker.

‘We’re flying the both of you to LA for the next two weeks. Congratulations!’

Felicity started crying.

‘What?’, Oliver felt the need to ask.

‘Mister Queen’, he could hear the smirk in the man’s voice, ‘You’re not the only film maker that helped the makeup artists. In fact, this year, all of our final 6 contestants had help shooting their films. We decided we had to do something for you too. So, even though this is a makeup competition, for the first year ever, we have incorporated a film making contest as well.’

‘Holy shit’, Oliver breathed out.

‘It’s going to be hard’, the man went on. ‘You all are very talented artists, but this is a competition, so you should start thinking of what film you will be shooting. You too, Miss Smoak. We, at NYX, will do our best to make your stay as pleasurable as possible, we have some fun things planned out, but it will be hard work.’

‘I can’t wait’, Felicity breathed out, still crying. Oliver was speechless, really.

‘Miss Smoak, Mister Queen’, the man said professionally. ‘Congratulations, and start packing. We will be emailing you the details of your trip later in the evening.’

As the man hung up, Felicity threw herself into Oliver’s arms, and she stood there, crying happily, for a long while.

ISO100

Oliver had fun in LA.

He met all the other contestants, and they were all great people. Felicity knew all of the girls, but Oliver didn’t shy away from the strangers.

They did a lot of press work, but as the man on the phone said, there were also fun group activities. They toured the NYX factory and the huge store at the end of it, and even though Oliver and the other men had no idea what was happening around them, they still enjoyed themselves watching the girls freak out over makeup products.

There were parties, and loud dinners, but still, Felicity end Oliver ended every day in one of their rooms, discussing what videos they shall be filming.

Even though it wasn’t against the rules, they were the only ones to work in pairs. They did two different videos, as they were supposed to, but they were connected.

Felicity had to tell her makeup story. She did so by starting in her usual daily makeup look, simple and beautiful, but she took it off and did a more dramatic look. With glitter and dark lips, the type Oliver knew she usually wore out during the night time.

The monologue she read over the video, it described her perfectly. Felicity was a normal girl, she did her makeup in the morning with a cup of coffee in front of her, she worked throughout the day, but come night fall, she changed. When she was with her friends, she was darker, edgier. Felicity was still Felicity, but when she put on her dark lipstick, she didn’t have boundaries anymore.

The makeup wasn’t spectacular, but the story was.

Oliver appeared in her video twice. At the beginning, when he didn’t do much, just fake-talked to Felicity for a while, and at the end, when they went together to a club and let themselves be filmed dancing.

For his video, Oliver filmed his process, of creating a film. It started with getting an idea, from the simplest of things. Felicity drinking a cup of coffee with her tablet in her hand gave Oliver the idea for a film about a superhero hacker. He did a lot of animations, over the shot of him at a work desk, writing the script and doing the concept work, thus explaining his thinking process.

As in Felicity’s video, when Oliver started filming his fake-film, she was wearing the same outfit and makeup she did in her video. The last shot of the film was worthy of a superhero movie. Felicity grinning wildly, in her full superhero costume, and Oliver by her side, looking at her with pride in his eyes, and his camera in his hand. There was an explosion in the background, he couldn’t help but put it there.

He was proud of the outcome, he worked a lot on it, a lot of sleepless nights in front of the monitor, but he was more than pleased. Not only did the short film describe Oliver to a T, which was the challenge, but the end result looked like it was done by him.

ISO100

When Felicity won, she started crying, over the roar of the applause. Then, she stepped off the stage, much to the organizers’ horror, and she ran straight to where Oliver was sitting, hugging him tightly and thanking him over and over again, words whispered against his neck.

When Oliver won, he froze, completely.

People were clapping him on the back and hugging him, words of congratulations flying over his head, and all he could do was look for Felicity. He spotted her on the stairs, as she was making her way towards the stage, towards him, and he met her half way.

She wasn’t crying, this time, but laughing hysterically, hugging him as tightly as she could.

The rest of the night was a blur after that, there was a massive party, and Oliver got slightly drunk. But it was okay, because everybody else around him was very drunk, including Felicity.

He all but carried her to his room, making her wear his clothes and sleep in his bed, and Oliver fell asleep with Felicity in his arms, mumbling incoherently, thanking him for everything.

ISO100

When he woke up, his head hurt, his left arm was asleep and Felicity was kissing all the breath out of him.


	15. Four times Oliver expects a kiss, and one time he doesn't

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [hockeyfanatic68](http://hockeyfanatic68.tumblr.com/) asked: _Oliver and Felicity helping each other with their mutual PTSD after Count Vertigo_  
> [darhkfelicity](http://darhkfelicity.tumblr.com/) asked: _ooh if you're taking prompts (and if you're not I'm sorry) I've always wanted to know what would've happened if oliver came to palmer tech in 3x07 a bit sooner and interrupted them before they could kiss_  
>  Anon asked: _After being stabbed by ra's al ghul He wakes up after dreaming he stayed and kissed felicity, however, this time when he wakes up felicity has travelled there without anyone knowing and his holding his hand when he wakes up. Its up to you from there. Ily you and your stories_  
>  Renata asked: _I tried to be sober, but I almost bit someone, so I gave up. :) Thank you for your awesome fics, Sim!_

**→One**

Things changed after Russia, as Oliver expected them to. But things changed even more after he killed Count Vertigo. Felicity changed.

She stayed away from the arrows displayed in the Foundry, for once. She flinched every time Digg cocked a gun. And, honestly, she kept her distance from Oliver.

He didn’t like it, of course he didn’t, but he expected it, ever since Russia. And he knew Felicity was a strong woman, she will be able to pull through.

So Oliver was very surprised, one week after the Count. He and Digg ran into some trouble on their patrol, but it was nothing they couldn’t handle. Shots and arrows were fired, but they were both uninjured, and they made sure to let Felicity know.

But when Oliver got to the Foundry, after having sent Digg home, he found Felicity in a dark corner of the basement. She was on the floor, with her knees against her chest, she was crying and clearly struggling to breathe.

Panic attack, Oliver’s mind supplied. He didn’t hesitate in taking off his hood and kneeling next to her.

Felicity flinched when he tried to touch her, so he refrained from doing it again. Still, he talked to her. She didn’t look away from his lips, so it was clear that she was trying to focus on him.

It took a while, for Felicity’s breaths to sync with Oliver’s, for her to calm down and stop crying.

When she did, Oliver smiled at her, as softly as he could. Hesitantly, he touched her knee. She didn’t flinch away from him this time, quite the opposite.

For a wild second, Oliver thought Felicity was going to kiss him. Instead, she just wrapped her hands around his shoulders and pushed her nose in the crook of his neck.

‘Thank you’, she rasped out, and Oliver promised himself to take better care of her.

He wasn’t strong enough, to stop every bad thing that could happen to Felicity. He’ll do his best, but it was clear that it wasn’t possible, to keep her truly safe.

But Oliver promised that he will help her deal with the aftermath. Starting now.

 

**→Two**

When Oliver got to Felicity’s office, Palmer was there.

They were close, Felicity looked amazing in a blue dress, and Palmer was taking off her necklace.

He was close, too close, and Oliver’s blood boiled like never before. So he didn’t bother knocking, he just stormed in and said a very gruff “Sorry to interrupt”.

Palmer looked like he was about to kill Oliver, which he enjoyed more than he probably should. And Felicity looked surprised, which made him smile wildly at her.

‘I’m sorry if this is a bad time’, he said politely, without any intention of leaving, ‘but I really wanted to speak to you.’

‘I should probably go, anyway’, Palmer said, dangling the necklace in his hand. He left without saying another word, pointedly avoiding Oliver’s eyes.

‘What’s up?’, Felicity asked softly, leaning against her desk and running her fingers through the curls on her back.

‘You look lovely’, Oliver said, walking until he was right in front of her. ‘What’s the occasion?’

‘Business dinner’, Felicity vaguely answered. ‘But you’re not here to ask about my day.’

Oliver looked down.

‘I’ve done some thinking’, he said slowly. ‘Cupid made me do some thinking.’

‘I know that feeling’, Felicity snorted, giving him enough strength to look at her.

‘I think I was wrong.’

Now she was amused, with her eyebrows raised high and a smirk on her lips. ‘Oh, really?’, she playfully teased, and Oliver smiled, nodding.

‘I think I was wrong, about what I said to you after Russia.’

All playfulness was gone from Felicity’s eyes in an instant. She sighed, straightening herself.

Oliver thought he was going to be kissed, because of the way Felicity took a deep breath and moved closer, closer.

But he didn’t get a kiss, he just got Felicity’s hand squeezing his arm, and their cheeks pressed closed together, in an awkward half-embrace. It hurt, somewhat. She was warm, and it hurt him.

‘You’re a mess, Oliver’, Felicity whispered, somewhat brokenly, in his ear. ‘You need to figure yourself out, before we figure out us.’

With that, she left, leaving Oliver all alone.

 

**→Three**

There was a curtain over Oliver’s mind, that made everything blurry.

The fight with Ra’z, the blade in his body, the fall. The cold. The unnamed savior.

He dreamt a lot.

He dreamt he did things differently.

He dreamt about never stepping into Felicity’s office. He dreamt about saving his mother. He dreamt about kissing Felicity before he left.

He dreamt about blood on her lips.

It was a dream he had often, and he always woke up from it, always disoriented. It was hard for him to distinguish reality from dreams.

That’s why, when he woke up and saw her, Oliver raised his head, expecting a kiss.

Felicity cupped a hand against his cheek, and Oliver whimpered. He waited, to feel her lips against his, like he felt so many times before.

But he didn’t. It wasn’t real.

Felicity proved it to him, by taking her hand away and roughly urging him off the bed.

 

**→Four**

Oliver got the call on a random Thursday, a bit after lunch, from Felicity’s phone.

‘You need to come get your friend’, a gruff man said over the sound of music.

‘Excuse me?’

‘There’s a very pretty blonde in my bar, drunk as hell, and she’s been crying for you for about an hour.’

Oliver sighed and got his keys.

When he got to the bar, Felicity was the only one in it, except for the bartender. The man he spoke to on the phone was looking at her in complete pity, trying to make her drink some water.

Oliver’s mind was whirling, with possible reasons that would make Felicity get drunk in the middle of a work day, and honestly, none of them were good enough.

When he said her name, she almost fell from the bar stool, but he was there to catch her.

Felicity blinked up at him, a couple of times, seemingly confused. Then, her eyes twinkled, and her expression changed into one of awe.

‘You’re here’, she said, breathlessly, struggling to get up from her seat. He helped her steady herself, and Felicity not once looked away from him.

‘You’re here’, Felicity said again, and Oliver, once again, thought she was going to kiss him.

Instead, Felicity bit on his jaw.

Oliver froze, while she snuggled up to him.

‘What?’, he managed to say.

‘Ray pissed me off’, Felicity mumbled.

‘And… why did you bite me?’

‘Smells nice.’

She started snoring two seconds later, still sitting up against Oliver’s chest.

The bartender snorted.

‘Boooy, does she love you’, he said, making Oliver scowl.

 

**→Plus one**

Oliver didn’t really know why he was here, except for the fact that Felicity asked him to.

He almost forgot what a press conference was like, but he figured he had to get used to them again, if he really wanted to run for mayor. Which he did.

So here he was, in the lobby of QC… Palmer Tech, where Felicity was giving a press conference, about her plans for the company.

Everything went well, and Felicity answered every question the reporters had for her without stumbling once. When the conference was over, she made her way to Oliver’s side, and absently, he noted that all the cameras followed her.

Felicity kissed him without even blinking. Oliver blinked, because of all the flashes that went off.

They didn’t discuss this, their relationship being out in the open, in _this_ open, in the public eye. But it was already done, and Felicity was grinning innocently up at him. She had a plan, clearly.

So Oliver sighed, and kissed her again, until her EA awkwardly reminded them about the cameras.


	16. spider parker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [geniewithwifi](http://geniewithwifi.tumblr.com) said: _Gwen Stacy as Felicity Smoak's cousin or sister or something_

The problem with your cousin dating Spiderman was that you could come home from work and find him hanging from the ceiling. Felicity didn’t mind it, though, considering he was up there in the first place to see if her boyfriend hid any of his arrows above the fridge.

It took, however, some time for them to get to this point.

**( hi I’m peter man I mean spider parker I mean fuck )**

Felicity loves her cousin. Gwen is an amazing young woman, as smart as she is beautiful, as kind as she is funny. They’ve been best friends growing up, and even though they lived a couple of hundred miles apart, they were still close.

So when Gwen asked if she could visit, Felicity didn’t hesitate to say yes. She should’ve asked Oliver first, of course, because they were living together, but Felicity just got very excited.

Oliver didn’t mind, of course he didn’t, he just said that they’d have to be careful with their night time activities. Sadly, he wasn’t talking about sex, but about the fact that every night he would put on his superhero costume and he’d fight bad guys, and Felicity would guide him along from their secret lair.

Yeah, Felicity sighed. She should have thought this through.

**( hi I’m peter man I mean spider parker I mean fuck )**

The first hint of trouble came when Felicity opened the door for Gwen. And her boyfriend. Which Gwen failed to mention was also coming.

It wasn’t the end of the world, Felicity absently thought, she had wanted to meet Peter for a while now, and he seemed nice.

Funny, awkward, handsome and smart.

And nosy. Very nosy.

‘What are you coding? Oh, wait, that’s not… are you hacking?’

‘Felicity, why would a woman like you need three different emergency medical kits? In every bathroom?’

‘Wow, your boyfriend sure knows a lot about archery.’

‘You said you were going for a manicure, but your nails are the same color. That’s a weird girly think to do.’

‘Oliver, man, it’s the third morning in a row you cut yourself shaving. You should really invest in an electric razor.’

‘Digg seems nice, but why does a stay at home dad need to be that big? I mean, he could crush my skull with his bare hands.’

‘I’m not saying that you’re not awesome, Felicity, but why would a Police Captain call you? You’re just a CEO.’

‘You went to bed very early last night, how come you look like you’re dead?’

‘Oliver, your sister’s scary.’

**( hi I’m peter man I mean spider parker I mean fuck )**

Now, don’t get Felicity wrong, she really liked Peter.

He was nice, very well raised. And he treated Gwen like she was this precious, precious thing that needed his full attention. Even Oliver got softer around the edges when Peter would display his obvious affection.

Felicity liked his humor, too. He always made her laugh, no matter how tired or stressed she was. Peter was a dork, a lovable dummy, and Gwen was absolutely smitten. Felicity was too, to a certain point.

Peter was very smart. Like, undiscovered genius type of smart. On more than one occasion, Felicity thought she was talking with Cisco, not Peter. And he always waved it off with a grin and a joke, making it seem unimportant.

Objectively speaking, Peter was attractive, in his dorky ways. And fit. Felicity tried not to dwell on that, but it was hard, especially when he effortlessly picked Gwen up to carry her to the other side of the room, or when Oliver told her that they jogged together 5 miles in the morning.

These were all things that Felicity should have thought about. But, as it turned out, they were all things that Felicity missed.

**( hi I’m peter man I mean spider parker I mean fuck )**

It was late at night when the news came, about a big robbery going on at the Starling Bank, with several hostages and bombs set to detonate.

Felicity managed to fake a phone call from work, lying her way through a made-up emergency, and Oliver, the loveable boyfriend, offered to drive her.

If Gwen and Peter thought it was weird, they didn’t say anything. Instead, they started stammering about going to bed, and Felicity should have noticed how weird they were acting. But she didn’t.

**( hi I’m peter man I mean spider parker I mean fuck )**

An hour later, Felicity was in the van outside of the bank, talking Digg, Thea and Laurel through dismantling the bombs, as Oliver dealt with the bad guys.

When they were done, Oliver’s confused voice came through the comm.

‘The hostages aren’t here.’

‘That can’t be’, Felicity frowned, as she was checking the video feed.

‘Uhm’, she said, in shock.

‘What?’, Oliver all but growled.

‘Spiderman is leading the hostages to the Police.’

There was a lengthy pause.

‘Which one of them is Spiderman?’, Oliver asked then, and Felicity rolled her eyes.

‘The one in New York that shoots spider webs out of his hands.’

‘Ah.’, Oliver said, and Felicity could picture him nodding.

‘You should talk to him’, Felicity said, with somewhat finality. ‘Find out what he’s doing here.’

‘Okay’, Oliver didn’t hesitate. ‘Where is he?’

Felicity checked the feeds again.

‘Ah, well.’, she gulped. ‘He’s right outside the van.’

Oliver growled, but he also started running.

**( hi I’m peter man I mean spider parker I mean fuck )**

Felicity knew Oliver got to the van because she heard someone crashing into the side of it. Spiderman, probably. Felicity sighed, and got out of the car, and, sure enough, the Arrow was crowding Spiderman against the van.

They both turned to look at her as, and Spiderman froze. Completely.

‘Calm down, guys’, Felicity said, pointedly looking at Oliver. ‘You should just talk this out.’

Oliver reluctantly let go of Spiderman and took a few steps backwards.

‘What are you doing in Star City?’, the Arrow growled, but Spiderman didn’t answer, considering he was still staring at Felicity.

She raised an eyebrow, and that snapped Spiderman out of it. He turned to look at Oliver, and mumbled something about just passing through.

He turned to look at Felicity again, but he didn’t say anything.

‘What?’, she asked, slowly.

‘What are you doing here, Felicity?’, Spiderman all but blurted out, and she screeched.

‘How do you know my name?’

‘What?’, Spiderman screeched back. ‘I don’t know your name.’

‘You just called me Felicity.’

‘No I didn’t.’

‘Yes, you did.’

‘No’.

‘Yes.’

‘No’

‘Yes.’

‘Stop!’, Oliver yelled.

Spiderman and Felicity both gulped. But he sighed, and took off his mask.

‘Peter!’, Felicity screeched, surprised.

She really shouldn’t have been surprised. The more she thought about it, the more Felicity realized she really shouldn’t be surprised.

‘Does Gwen know you’re Spiderman?’, Felicity finally asked.

‘Yes. Does Oliver know you’re hanging out with the Arrow?’, Peter countered.

‘I actually do’, Oliver said, surprising both of them, as he took off his mask.

Peter started laughing. Pretty hysterically. Then he put his mask back on.

‘See you back home’, was all he said, before raising an arm and shooting spider webs into the closest building.

Felicity and Oliver wordlessly watched him swing away. Peter was screaming, happily.

**( hi I’m peter man I mean spider parker I mean fuck )**

Gwen hugged Felicity tightly when they got back home, apologizing for not saying anything, but then faking anger at the fact that Felicity didn’t tell her about Oliver either.

They spent the rest of the night talking. Peter started by explaining what happened to him, and Felicity told the story of how she got to know Oliver, and then the Arrow.

It was nice.

**( hi I’m peter man I mean spider parker I mean fuck )**

The problem with your cousin dating Spiderman was that you could come home from work and find him hanging from the ceiling, for one reason or another.

‘I will shoot you down, Peter, I swear to god’, Felicity heard Oliver growling. ‘You really don’t want an arrow up your ass!’


	17. Man to man to man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anons asked:  
> ΔCan you maybe do one where oliver breaks up with felicity and she's like no you don't.  
> ΔI wonder what the hell is this "I love you but I can't be with you because the life that I choose, because I can't lose you and put you in danger blabla. Hello? The bad guys doesn't care if they're together or not. They're coming anyway. So I would love to read something where someone (maybe angry Felicity) just speaks up!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> with a touch of snowbarry

Oliver knew this wasn’t the first time Caitlin was kidnapped. And he knew that it was a danger she couldn’t escape as long as she was by Barry’s side.

And Oliver knew that Barry would fight to get Caitlin back. That was a no brainer, really.

But Barry’s reaction shocked Oliver.

His eyes were on fire, with so much hatred, Oliver didn't even know Barry was capable of it. Then, he cursed, loudly, and flashed down the hall. They all heard a loud crash next, and Cisco winced.

‘That might have been a wall’, he said, snapping Felicity out of her shock, and she ran after Barry.

Oliver looked at Cisco.

‘I’ve missed something’, was all he said, but Cisco still nodded.

‘I’m pretty sure they did too.’, he shook his head, muttering ‘oblivious’ under his breath.

When Felicity dragged Barry back into the Cortex, he was still angry, but there was determination on his features too, as he said ‘We have to find her.’

Oliver shared a look with Cisco, and got to work.

Δ

Caitlin wasn’t massively hurt, thankfully, just a few cuts and bruises and very tangled hair. Still, Felicity dragged her into the med room, leaving the men alone in the Cortex.  Cisco started typing away at his computer, but Barry didn’t move, he stared at Caitlin and Felicity through the glass.

Oliver wordlessly grabbed Barry’s arm and dragged him away to another room, Cisco falling in step behind them.

After Barry was unceremoniously dropped in a chair, Oliver glared at him.

‘Start talking.’

‘About what?’, Barry frowned.

Oliver just threw him another look.

The Flash hesitated, for a long while, but after that, he sighed, deeply, shoulders hunching and head falling against his chest.

‘Caitlin was hurt today’, he said slowly, ‘because of me.’

‘No’, Cisco said, easily.

‘Yes’, Barry glared at him. ‘Because she was by my side, because of her connection to the Flash.’

‘And…?’, Oliver prompted when Barry fell silent.

‘And I don’t want that.’, Barry sighed. ‘I want to protect her, and I can’t.’

‘But you did’, Cisco argued. ‘Today, you saved Caitlin.’

‘She shouldn’t need saving to begin with!’, Barry yelled, almost.

Oliver sighed, and took a deep breath before talking.

‘I get it. But… You remember a few weeks ago, when Dhark took Felicity?’

Barry nodded, surprise by the topic change.

‘I broke up with her afterwards.’

‘Stupid’, Barry didn’t miss a beat, glaring furiously at Oliver.

Who smirked. ‘That’s exactly what Felicity said.’

‘Cause you are. Stupid, I mean’, Barry kept glaring.

‘You didn’t break up, though’, Cisco pointed out.

‘There was a lot of screaming’, Oliver shook his head. ‘But in the end, Felicity was right.’

‘As she usually is’, Cisco grinned.

‘What did she say?’, Barry asked.

‘No, mostly.’, Oliver tilted his head. ‘The main idea was that… the bad guys don’t care, if we’re together or not. They’re going to keep coming either way.’

‘Not if she walks away’, Barry tried, somewhat desperately.

‘Caitlin’s not going to walk away from you’, Oliver smiled. ‘Just like Felicity’s not going to walk away from me.’

‘It’s different, though’, Barry tried again, making Cisco roll his eyes.

‘She left you already, Barry’, he pointed out. ‘Well, you left us, technically. And we still came back. Honestly, she didn’t even need much convincing, I was there, I know she didn’t.’

‘Caitlin cares about you’, Oliver said, slowly. ‘And about the work you are doing for this city. She’s going to be by your side no matter what, no matter whom or what comes after her. And you’ll always be there to save her, that much is clear.’

‘But-‘

‘No’, Cisco interrupted Barry. ‘Get your head out of your ass and open your eyes. Caitlin’s by your side because she wants to be, because she weighted the pros and cons, like she usually does, and she decided in full capacity of her mental functions that you’re worth it. So stop being stupid and ask her out already.’

Oliver has never seen Cisco angry. He liked it, especially considering the face Barry made as a reaction. The Flash blushed, deeply, and tried to stammer out some sort of denial.

Cisco just leveled him with a look.

‘You know, I don’t tell you all the visions I get.’

At Barry’s doubtful look, Cisco went on.

‘Most of the times, my visions make sense, they’re important for what we’re dealing with. But sometimes, they’re not. Sometimes, I just see us… in an alternate universe.’

Barry didn’t say anything, he was just watching Cisco with wide eyes.

‘And sometimes’, Cisco went on, ‘you’re with Iris. Sometimes, I’m with Caitlin. But most of the times, you’re with Caitlin. It’s sickening, really’, he pulled a face, ‘how adorable you are.’

‘You’re just saying that to-‘

‘I’m not’, Cisco interrupted Barry. ‘I’m really not. I’m just giving you a push, man. You need it.’

‘This isn’t-‘, Barry tried again, and it was Oliver that interrupted him.

‘The issue we were discussing, yes, but trust me, Barry, I’m talking from experience here. And most of the issues you’re having now will go away with some well thought dates.’

‘Totally’, Cisco nodded.

‘It’s not about guys like us not getting the girls’, Oliver smirked, ‘it’s about the fact that we have to-'

Of course, that’s when Caitlin came in.

‘Felicity wants to go out for drinks.’

‘It’s barely noon’, Oliver said, as Barry said that Caitlin needed to rest.

Caitlin just smiled at them. ‘I’m gonna nap for a while, but we’re all going out tonight. We won’t take no for an answer.’

‘Are you sure you’re going to be up for that?’, Barry asked, very concerned, making Caitlin roll her eyes.

‘I’m fine, Barry, you can stop fussing over me. And yes, I think some alcohol is just what I need.’

‘Some?’, Cisco smirked.

‘Or a Margarita as big as my head’, she grinned, and Oliver wondered if he looked as smitten with Felicity, as Barry looked at Caitlin now.

Δ

When Caitlin got to the bar, Barry just… stopped.

It was understandable, really, considering Caitlin was wearing a very short and very tight dress. Really, Oliver still had the same reaction when he saw Felicity in a dress.

Even though Barry was blushing, he managed to smirk, cockily at Caitlin.

‘You look nice, Principal Snow.’

Oliver didn’t understand, but Caitlin started laughing, sweetly kissing Barry’s cheek, so it was okay.

They’ll be okay, Oliver thought. Judging by Felicity’s wide smile, so did she.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO GUYS  
> next up will be a Halloween special! a bit longer, helluva AU, with a surprise guest appearance and a matching tumblr post :)
> 
> then I'm going out of town for a week, so you won't be getting any updates :3


	18. When is a monster not a monster? Oh, when you love it.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [@AlexiaBlackbriar13](http://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexiaBlackbriar13/pseuds/AlexiaBlackbriar13%20) asked: _Oliver is Starling City's winged guardian angel and he falls in love with Felicity when he saves her life but falling in love with a human is forbidden._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title is a quote from Caitlyn Siehl. [I made a mini-edit for this fic.](http://sssssssim.tumblr.com/post/132234687456/alexiablackbriar13-asked-oliver-is-starling)  
>  **Happy Halloween, my loves**

The first time he sees her, Felicity is 15 and he’s been an angel for the past 200 years.

★✩★

Oliver didn’t live a peaceful live. He started fights, he hurt people, he killed people. He killed a lot of innocent people, just for the fun of it. He was a monster.

As a punishment, God made him a true monster. The Lord called him an angel, but Oliver didn’t feel like one.

He had the wings, yes, large, full, dark gray wings. But his actions, his job, everything was far from the way people regarded angels.

Sometimes, the forces of darkness would work against the Lord’s word. Oliver was put on Earth to prevent that.  

He has fought demons and ghouls and the odd mage with a connection to the Underworld. For 200 years, he has kept the people of Starling City safe, made sure their lives ran their toll, in accordance to God’s will.

Unseen and unheard, he was their guardian. Their protector. A monster, with a good purpose.

★✩★

She was 15 when she stared at him.

Which was impossible. Humans couldn’t see Oliver. And she was, completely human. Felicity Smoak, her name came to Oliver without having to ask for it. Set to die at 84, peacefully in her sleep.

She made her way towards him, grinning all the while. It was only then when Oliver managed to look away from her beautiful blue eyes, and notice that she was wearing a costume, blue and red, with a cape and an S on her chest.

‘Trick or treat?’, she asked sweetly when she stopped in front of him.

She shouldn’t be able to see him. Humans saw Oliver, sometimes, but only after Oliver saved their lives, from a creature or a demon. They’d see him just enough for him to explain what happened, and then they’d go back to not noticing him.

And yet, here she was. For the first time in 200 years, a human’s eyes laid upon Oliver’s form, without a reason.

She wasn’t looking at Oliver, though, not really. She was staring at his wings.

It was Halloween. While the pagan holiday had nothing to do with the Lord’s ways, it was a strong night for magic; Oliver could feel it in the air.

He should have disappeared. But he couldn’t look away from her beautiful eyes. She’ll think the wings are a costume, Oliver argued with himself. There was no harm to come from a simple discussion.

‘Aren’t you too old to be trick or treating?’, he finally asked, and he hated how gruff his voice sounded.

Felicity snorted. ‘You’re never too old for trick or treating. Especially if you turn up to the party with your bag filled with candy.’

She pointedly opened her bag and all but shoved it into Oliver’s face.

‘I apologize’, he said, ‘I don’t have candy.’

Felicity pouted, but quickly recovered. ‘So you’ll be tricking me instead?’

‘I have already tricked you’, he smiled, slowly moving his wings.

Her eyes instantly grew wide, and she extended a hand, like she wanted to touch his wings. It was impossible, so Oliver quickly drew them back.

‘That’s so cool’, Felicity said, in awe. ‘Best costume I have ever seen. How did you make them?’

‘Magic’, was what Oliver said, and it made her look back to him.

‘Fine’, she breathed out. ‘Consider me properly tricked.’

Someone yelled her name, a group of her friends, and she turned with an apologetic expression back to Oliver.

‘I have to go.’

‘Enjoy your night.’, he said, but she was already bouncing away.

Her friends asked her why she was sitting alone in a corner, talking to herself. Felicity turned to point out that she was talking to a very hot guy, but Oliver wasn’t there anymore.

★✩★

The next time Felicity saw Oliver, she was covered in blood.

Fake blood, because it was a year after, on Halloween. Oliver still couldn’t look away from her eyes.

‘Trick or treat?’, she asked when she got by his side, grinning wildly.

‘I apologize’, he said, ‘I haven’t got any candy.’

She rolled her eyes. ‘Of course you don’t. Trick me, then’, she winked.

Oliver moved his wings, making her frown.

‘Nuh-uh, you did that last year.’

He smiled, and within a blink and the next, his wings turned from stark gray, to bright white.

Her jaw dropped. ‘No, seriously, how did you do that?’

‘Magic’, he easily answered, wings turning to their usual color.

Someone in her group of friends yelled for her, and Felicity started walking towards them, but she didn’t turn around, still looking at Oliver.

‘I’d ask if you were stalking me’, she grinned, ‘but it’s been a year, it doesn’t seem like you’re very good at it.’

He just smiled.

★✩★

The next Halloween, Oliver barely recognized Felicity.

She was wearing a short black skirt and a corset, her eyes were painted black, as were her lips. There was a lit cigarette between her fingers, traces of black lipstick at the end of it, her breath smelled like whiskey and she was taller. Still, her blue eyes were the same, beautiful and breathtaking.

‘Trick or treat?’, she asked, and her tone was very different than before. She seemed breathless, and … Oliver knew enough of the society she lived in, to realize that she was flirting.

‘Let me guess’, Felicity smirked before he got to answer, ‘You don’t have any candy.’

‘I do not’, he nodded. ‘But it doesn’t look like you’re treat or tricking.’

Her smirk grew at that, and she took a step forward. Almost touching him. Almost.

‘I’d still like you to trick me’, Felicity said, and her eyes didn’t move from Oliver’s lips.

He felt breathless. He felt like he was on fire. He felt cold and hot altogether. He felt old and young. He felt pain.

Because he wanted to run his fingers through her hair. But he couldn’t.

‘You should go’, he managed to breathe out.

Felicity closed her eyes, and sighed, deeply. She left without saying anything more.

★✩★

Next year, Felicity was drunk. Her friends were carrying her, and she struggled against their hold, yelling about how she wanted to talk with her hot angel guy. She kept yelling, even after her friends told her there was nobody there.

That night, Oliver followed her until she was safely asleep in her bed.

★✩★

The next Halloween, Oliver saved Felicity from a wendigo.

He had her pinned to the ground in a dark alley, and Felicity was screaming, and fighting against him, but the wendigo’s teeth have already scratched her neck and chest.

Oliver knew that it wasn’t her time. She still had 65 more years to live.

So he didn’t hesitate, in ripping the wendigo’s heart out, and setting it on fire. As the flames died down from his fingers, the monster’s body disintegrated, and Felicity’s body was covered in ash.

‘Are you hurt?’, Oliver asked her.

‘What the hell was that thing?’

Thankfully, he was allowed to explain, now. The people who interacted with this world, they were allowed to know. For their own good.

‘A wendigo’, Oliver told her.

Felicity just gaped for a while. Looking between Oliver’s eyes, to his hands, to his wings, to the bruises that was developing on her arms.

‘And what are you?’, she finally asked, looking him in the eyes.

‘I’m an angel of the Lord.’, Oliver answered, slowly. ‘I protect people from the forces of darkness.’

‘Shit’, Felicity said. ‘I’m going crazy.’

‘You’re not.’, Oliver bent down, moving his wings to accommodate the new position. He looked at Felicity with as much compassion as he could, and she started crying.

‘I don’t believe you.’

Oliver smiled, because he knew she was going to be hard to convince.

He raised his hand, palm up, urging her to grab a hold of it. Of course, she couldn’t, her fingers went straight through Oliver’s.

‘Cold’, was all she said, even though Oliver only felt warmth.

‘You should go home, Felicity’, he said softly, startling her.

‘How do you know my name?’

He smiled. ‘I’m an angel of the Lord. I know things.’

She huffed at that, a small smile wrinkling her lips. ‘What’s your name?’

‘Oliver.’

‘Oliver?’, she frowned. ‘Well, that’s anticlimactic. I was expecting something more interesting. ‘

‘Sorry to disappoint’, he smirked. ‘We don’t get new names when we’re turned.’

Her jaw dropped. ‘So you were human once?’

Smart, Felicity was. Not so smart, Oliver was. He didn’t know if he was allowed to tell her, but he did anyway.

‘I died 207 years ago. Because of the way I lived, the Lord is punishing me, by making me protect life, like I hadn’t when I lived.’

Felicity bit her lower lip for a while, and then got off from the ground, forcing Oliver to stand up too.

‘I’m not supposed to be able to see you, am I?’, Felicity frowned.

Oliver shook his head.

‘Then why can I?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Okay’, Felicity breathed out. ‘Thank you, for tonight.’

‘Just doing my job’, he shrugged.

Felicity left without another word, but once again, Oliver followed her in the shadows, until she was safely asleep in her bed.

★✩★

The next Halloween, Felicity was surrounded by a large group of people, and there was a guy that had his hand tucked away in her back pocket, and his tongue was down her throat.

Felicity still saw Oliver, as she kissed the guy with her eyes opened.

She pushed him away, took out her phone, and made her way to Oliver’s side.

‘I’m not really on the phone’, she said cheekily, ‘I just figured out I won’t look like I’m talking to myself this way. Here!’

She pushed something towards Oliver, and when he looked down, there was a candy bar.

‘If anybody else asks you for a trick or treat’, she explained upon seeing his confused expression.

Oliver smiled, despite the deep hole he felt in his chest.

‘Nobody will.’

Her smile fell at that, and she tucked the candy bar away in a pocket.

‘Am I the only one who sees you?’, she asked, slowly, and Oliver nodded.

‘Humans see me if I save them from… something.’

‘Like a wendigo’, Felicity said, and there was a question there.

Oliver nodded.

‘But I… saw you before.’, she frowned.

‘I don’t have an answer’, Oliver admitted, looking away.

Without even wanting to, his eyes went to the guy Felicity was kissing. He was looking towards her, a hungry look in his eyes. It was filthy, Oliver thought. Felicity shouldn’t be looked at like that. She should be worshiped, protected, loved. Not… desired like that.

‘Must be lonely’, Felicity’s very soft voice made him look back at her. She was frowning, something akin to pity in her eyes.

‘Aren’t you lonely?’, she insisted, taking a miniscule step forward.

At that moment, Oliver wanted nothing more than pick her up and fly her as far away from her boyfriend as his wings would allow him. Instead, he smiled at her.

‘Your friends are waiting.’

‘What about your friends?’, she insisted, a flash of something powerful crossing over her features.

‘My friends have been dead for years’, Oliver found himself saying. ‘You are the first person I have had more than a single conversation with in… centuries.’

‘It’s not right’, Felicity whispered, horrified.

Oliver smiled. ‘I deserve it.’

‘Yo, babe!’, her boyfriend  yelled, and Felicity sighed.

‘I’ll see you next year?’, she asked, very hesitantly.

‘I honestly don’t know.’, Oliver smiled.

Felicity left, but not before reaching out her fingers towards his hand. They went straight through, as she knew they would, but she still smiled as she did it.

★✩★

The next Halloween, Oliver had to stop a dozen demons. It was a long, tough battle, that left him exhausted and broken.

His wings were still on fire, there was black blood pouring out of several gashes on his body, his right knee was completely busted and he felt completely drained out.

It’ll take a few hours, but Oliver would heal. He always did.

So he collapsed against a wall, lowered himself on the floor, struggled to get his wings out of the way. And he waited.

He doesn’t know how long he waited, until his vision blurred with gold and bright blue.

‘What happened to you?’

Oliver blinked, and it took a few long moments for him to recognize Felicity.

She had blonde hair now, and thick rimmed glasses. She was wearing a light colored jumper with a shirt underneath and her beautiful eyes were now red and puffed.

‘What happened to you?’, Oliver repeated her question back to her, making Felicity glare.

‘I asked you first.’

Oliver sighed. ‘It’ll heal.’

‘That didn’t answer my question’, Felicity narrowed her eyes.

Under the scrutiny of her glare, Oliver caved.

‘I fought some demons. They’re worse off than I am’, he couldn’t help but smirk. ‘I will heal over time.’

Felicity sighed, and mumbled something under her breath, before reaching into her purse and getting out a long scarf. She laid it out on the ground next to Oliver, and it took her a few awkward grunts, because she was wearing a skirt and heels, but eventually, she sat down next to him.

Oliver couldn’t look away.

‘What happened to you?’, he asked again and this time, Felicity sighed.

‘You told me once that you know things.’

‘Not… all things’, Oliver blinked. ‘I know names and … death dates. I know when I’m supposed to save people.’

Felicity hummed. ‘So you don’t know what happened to me? And my boyfriend?’

Oliver shook his head, and Felicity started talking. About how they did something bad, and they got caught. About how he took the fall for her, and killed himself in prison.

After she finished explaining, there were tears in her eyes, and they hurt more than any wound Oliver has ever had.

They stayed like that for a while, in silence. But then, somehow, they started talking. She asked him about what other monsters he fought, and she told him things, random stories about her life and he didn’t realize when the sun came up.

Between one blink and the next, Felicity’s eyes weren’t focusing on his anymore. She sighed, and started gathering her things.

‘I really wish I’d get to see you more than once a year’, she whispered, gently running her fingers over the wall, where she knew Oliver still stood.

‘I really wish I could be your friend.’, Felicity went on, smiling softly. ‘Maybe even more.’

Then, she sighed, and walked away, leaving Oliver feeling more alone than he has ever felt.

★✩★

The next Halloween, Oliver didn’t see Felicity. But he wanted to, and he has always been a weak man, no matter how strong of an angel he became. So Oliver went to her apartment. It was empty, but Oliver didn’t leave. He stood in the shadows, in front of the building, and he waited.

Felicity came when the first lights of morning peeked from behind the clouds.

‘I’m so sorry’, she said, ‘I had to work.’

Oliver smiled, pleased to see her, but he knew it was only a few seconds before she wouldn’t be able to see him again.

‘Please’, Felicity said quickly, reaching out a hand for his arm, even if she couldn’t touch.

‘Please ask around’, she went on, looking at Oliver with wild eyes. ‘See if there’s any way, any spell or… anything, I just want to be able to see you all year around. Please, Oliver. For me?’

He was in shock, his heart was beating rapidly in his chest, and Felicity was still looking at him with a very hopeful look in her eyes.

Oliver nodded, it was the only thing he could manage.

Felicity smiled, relaxing visibly. It was a sweet smile, it was fond and excited. Then, her eyes unfocused and she swore, letting her hand fall back. She couldn’t see him anymore.

Felicity started crying, even if she was still smiling.

‘I hope to see you soon, Oliver.’, she whispered. ‘I’ll pray for it.’

★✩★

Oliver did ask around.

Every other angel he crossed paths with, every demon, werewolf, vampire, mage. Everybody he could ask, he did.

There wasn’t any way. That’s what everybody said, that there wasn’t any way, for him to interact with a mortal outside of the parameters that the Lord has set.

Oliver would be lying if he said he wasn’t crushed. He…

He didn’t know what love was. He never knew, never felt it, not in his life on Earth, not in his life in this other plane of existence.

Oliver understood some things, of course. He knew what to look for. Holding the door open for her, kissing her cheek and holding her when she wanted. Giving compliments and buying her things. Smiling and kissing. That’s what men in love did. That’s what Oliver saw every day.

He wanted that. He wanted to be able to do all of these things for Felicity. He wanted to do everything with Felicity, he would do anything for her.

But he couldn’t even touch her.

Suddenly, Oliver didn’t think his punishment was fair anymore.

★✩★

He spent all the time he could by Felicity’s side.

She couldn’t see him, of course, but he took comfort in seeing her.

The way she smiled when she drank her coffee in the mornings, how she mumbled under her breath while parking her car, the way she sighed happily when she got home from work and took off her heels. Oliver took comfort in knowing that Felicity was safe, that she smiled every day at the security guard in her office building, that she slept in during the weekends, and had sweets on a Sunday night.

He got to know her friends, an alarmingly large man called Diggle, a lanky young man called Barry, an energetic blonde called Sara. They all cared about Felicity, and they always brightened up her days.

There were bad days, too. Days in which Felicity didn’t smile, when she over exhausted herself at work, days in which she snapped at anybody and everybody. Nights in which she went to sleep crying.

He wanted to be there for her.

Lord, how he wanted to hug her. Tell her that he’s there, that he’s watching, that he will always do his best, to keep Felicity safe.

That promise will, ultimately, become the beginning of Oliver’s demise.

★✩★

On the next Halloween, when Felicity saw Oliver, he was too absorbed in her to notice the demon lurking around the corner.

She was walking toward Oliver, a bounce in her step and a grin on her face, and he couldn’t look away from her eyes, those beautiful blue eyes that Oliver would give anything to never stray from his.

The demon appeared out of nowhere, put a hand over Felicity’s mouth, and instantly started draining of her life force.

It was imprinted into Oliver's being, checking people’s life span.

Felicity was supposed to live for 84 years. That’s what he kept seeing, always, these past years. But now, that number was replaced with 23. She was supposed to die now.

Oliver saw red.

He acted against everything he was taught, everything that was encrypted in his being, in the rules the Lord made him follow.

Oliver sent the demon back to Hell before he even thought about the consequences.

Felicity screamed, loudly, and she kept screaming even after the demon was a pile of ash at her feet. And she didn’t stop screaming, no matter how much Oliver called her name.

His hands instinctively went to Felicity’s shoulders, even if he couldn’t touch her. But he tried. And he felt the familiar warmth running through his fingers, and that made Felicity stop screaming.

Oliver’s eyes focused back to hers, and his mind focused on her, only on her.

Her life span was fluctuating, something Oliver has never seen happen before. It kept changing, from 84 to 23, for a long while, until it finally settled on 84, and Oliver breathed a sigh of relief.

It was only then when he became aware of their surroundings. What was a busy street a few minutes ago, was now completely deserted, the only sounds heard were the still rugged breathing of Felicity and Oliver’s wings fluttering nervously.

‘Oliver’, a gruff voice said, and when he looked to his right, he saw a fellow angel.

‘Castiel’, he acknowledged, nodding at the man in the tan trench coat, the direct superior to every guardian angel that was stationed on Earth.

‘Who’s that?’, Felicity asked, shakily, and Oliver was shocked that she could see him.

Castiel didn’t even look at her.

‘You disobeyed’, the older angel said slowly.

Oliver nodded. ‘I’ll come willingly.’

‘No’, Felicity breathed out. ‘That sounds like you’re not coming back.’

Oliver looked at her, feeling his heart breaking.

‘I’m sorry’, was all he said, but it still made Felicity cry.

‘Please don’t.’

‘I have to’, he wasn’t surprised that he started crying, too. ‘I’m so sorry. Just… Felicity, know that in the 200 years I have fought on this Earth, you were the only light I was ever blessed with.’

‘Please don’t leave me’, Felicity begged, hands running all over Oliver’s body, through it, making him feel like he was on fire.

‘I’m sorry.’, was all Oliver managed to say, before he turned towards Castiel and let himself be taken back to Heaven.

★✩★

They locked Oliver up.

In a small cement cell, he barely had space to stretch his wings. No windows, no sound, no smells, constant light, seals to secure him in. Oliver lost track of time.

He couldn’t stop thinking about Felicity.

Of all the things he knew about her. Of all the things he wanted to know about her.

Her smile. Her hair. Her eyes.

Her eyes.

Oliver wished the Lord would let him die.

★✩★

Castiel came to see him at one point. He was smiling, oddly enough.

‘Your trial has concluded.’

Oliver blinked, confused. ‘I wasn’t aware there was a trial.’

Castiel shrugged.

‘But’, Oliver insisted, ‘shouldn’t I have been involved? Testify?’

‘There was no need’, Castiel shook his head. ‘Contrary to popular belief, most angels do understand the feeling of love.’

Oliver couldn’t look at him anymore.

‘Some more than others, true’, Castiel went on. ‘But, in all fairness, Oliver, your love for the human didn’t count for much.’

At that point, Oliver lost every last shred of hope he might have had.

‘ _Her_ love counted, though’, Castiel said, and when Oliver’s eyes snapped to the other angel, he smiled.

‘You’ve been here a month, and your Felicity has been praying to me every day.’

Oliver started crying.

‘I’m never going to see her again, am I?’, he breathed out.

Castiel smiled again.

‘You are, if that is what you desire’. Then, the angel’s expression and posture changed, growing stiffer. ‘I am here to inform you that your debt to our Lord has been paid.’

Oliver didn’t understand.

‘If you so desire, I am here to escort you back to Earth.’

Oliver didn’t understand.

‘Where you will live the rest of a normal, human life.’

‘I disobeyed’, Oliver said in disbelief. ‘I saved someone I shouldn’t have. And God’s going to let me go back to her?’

Castiel nodded, smiling.

‘You deserve it, Oliver. Yes, you made a mistake, but… you’re not the first or the last angel to choose love over our Lord.’

‘We were taught that… that nothing is more important that our Lord’, Oliver panted. ‘Not us, not the planet, not the humans, nothing.’

Castiel tilted his head. ‘Some of us have learned that is not true. That love is stronger than anything. Our Lord is starting to see it as well.’

Oliver just kept panting, trying to wrap his head around everything.

‘It’s a tough decision’, Castiel mussed. ‘The world has changed a lot since the last time you lived in it. Do you think you could handle it?’

‘I could handle anything for her’, Oliver said before he could stop himself, but all Castiel did was smile.

‘I’m getting a second chance’, Oliver said slowly, finally breathing.

‘You deserve it’, Castiel smiled back, before touching Oliver’s forehead and making him fall asleep.

★✩★

When Oliver woke up, he was in an apartment, that he knew was his.

He spent the first day on Earth crying. In relief, in happiness, in exhaustion, he didn’t know. But he felt better afterwards, stronger, somehow.

Even if he wanted nothing more than to run to Felicity, he didn’t. Instead, he spent the next two weeks adjusting.

Oliver learned that he needed to sleep, to eat. He learned how to wash his clothes and how to shave with an electric razor. He bought an expensive coffee machine, and learned how to work the toaster.

He got used to people seeing him.

He got used to walking without the weight of the wings.

He got used to talking.

★✩★

When Oliver knocked on Felicity’s door, his heart was beating so fast, he was scared it will literally burst out of his chest.

But then she opened the door, and everything in Oliver settled.

Felicity’s eyes grew wide, and her jaw dropped. Her hair was messily piled on top of her head, and she was wearing pajama pants and her eyes were as beautiful as he remembered.

‘Hello’, Oliver breathed out.

Felicity just kept gaping wordlessly.

Barry appeared around the corner, mumbling something about the pizza guy.

Even if Oliver knew who he was, he tried his best to ask like he didn’t, to act surprised.

‘Oh, you’re not the pizza guy’, Barry frowned.

‘I’m not’, Oliver smiled. ‘I’m… a friend of Felicity’s. My name is Oliver. Oliver Queen.’

They shook hands and Felicity still hasn’t said anything, she was still gaping wordlessly.

Barry frowned, concerned, and asked her if she was okay.

‘You can see him?’, Felicity managed to ask, and it only confused Barry more, so Oliver took it upon himself to explain. Well, as much as he was allowed.

‘I haven’t seen Felicity in a while, and I… didn’t call, to tell her I was in town.’ Oliver frowned. ‘Moved to town, actually.’

‘What?’, Felicity breathed out, shakily.

When Oliver turned to look at her, there were tears in her eyes.

‘I’m staying here’, he said slowly, smiling. ‘Permanently. Well’, he smiled wider. ‘As permanent as a human life if.’

Felicity broke at that. She started crying, sobbing, really. But she also jumped into Oliver’s hands. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pushed their bodies flush against one another.

Oliver took a deep breath, just… breathing her in. She was warm, she was there. He felt every breath she took, he felt her lips against his neck and her whole body shaking. He felt her tears on his skin and Oliver didn’t think he was worthy of feeling such happiness.

It was familiar, the warmth of her, but it also wasn't, the way it made him shake. 

‘You’re really here?’, she whispered against his neck.

Oliver nodded, holding onto her as tightly as he could.

‘As long as you’ll have me.’

‘I’ve clearly missed something’, Barry said, extremely weary, making Felicity laugh. Oliver chuckled as well.

They slowly detached from their embraced, but Felicity kept her hand wrapped around Oliver’s, squeezing tightly. He knew what she felt, the need to prove he’s really here, and he would’ve liked if Felicity would never let go.

‘Did you ever feel like you have a guardian angel?’, Felicity asked Barry. ‘Someone who’s looking out for you, from the shadows, someone who’s always there, even if you don’t know it? Someone who’d … who’d do anything for you, anything and everything, and… you couldn’t even say thank you?’

Barry blinked. ‘I’m just gonna go’, he said, slowly. ‘It’s clear that you two have a lot to talk about.’

Oliver tried to make him stay, but Felicity wouldn’t have it.

After Barry left, Felicity hugged Oliver again, for a long, long time. Silently, Oliver said a prayer. Thanked the Lord for Felicity, for his new life with her.

‘I missed you so much’, she whispered then, and Oliver hesitantly kissed her temple.

‘You’ll never miss me again.’

Her hands moved then, slowly, over his shoulders, down his back.

‘I kinda miss the wings.’

Oliver laughed, even if he was fighting back tears. ‘I don’t. I really, really don’t.’

Felicity pushed away from him, then, but not far. Her hands were wrapped around his neck, and she blinked, hesitantly at him a couple of times. Before closing her eyes and slowly, so slowly, pressing her lips onto his.

In that moment, Castiel's words came back to Oliver.

_Love is stronger than anything._

And with Felicity in his arms, Oliver understood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Firstly: I'm gonna be honest, I'm really excited about this one.  
> Secondly: I'm gonna be out of town for a week or so, so there's a tinny tiny hiatus coming up ^.^


	19. Across Europe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I used [@bleep0bleep](http://bleep0bleep.tumblr.com)'s SFW [prompt generator](http://bleep0bleep.tumblr.com/prompts) and I got this:
> 
> Setting: bookstore  
> Genre: Action/Adventure  
> Trope: Friends With Benefits  
> Prompt: Watching someone sleep
> 
> There's no Action/Adventure, not exactly a bookstore setting and it's most definitely NOT suited for work: Oliver is a writer and Felicity is his agent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI HELLO I AM BACK IN TOWN HOW ARE Y'ALL DOING
> 
> Also. That prompt generator is pretty amazing. There's a [SFW](http://bleep0bleep.tumblr.com/prompts) version and a [NSFW](http://bleep0bleep.tumblr.com/promptsnsfw) one. They do work best with werewolf stuff (Teen Wolf hehe), but they're pretty awesome. Check them out and have some fun challenging yourself :)

Oliver’s relationship with Felicity has been weird from the start, ever since Thea introduced them and Felicity complimented his chest while Oliver yelled at his sister that he didn’t need an agent.

5 years later, here they were.

Best friends, on one hand. How could they not be?, when they spent most of their time together and when Felicity lived across the hall from Oliver.

Partners, on the other hand. Felicity was his agent, and with her by his side, Oliver’s novels grew popular, he grew successful and famous.

But that wasn’t all they were.

On one hand, Oliver needed Felicity. She needed her to keep him on track, to encourage him to keep writing, to remind him about deadlines and to organize his public life.

On the other hand, they were friends, always, and lovers, sometimes. When either of them would need it, after a long week or after an even more boring one, they’d wordlessly agree to have sex and act like nothing ever happened in the morning.

Oliver’s relationship with Felicity has been weird from the start.

But this is the story of how it grew even weirder, during the publicity tour for Oliver’s latest book, through five cities across Europe.

 

**I. Rome**

It was the first stop on the book tour and Oliver didn’t really have time to sleep off the jet lag. So he was loopy at the signing. He had to be careful when he pushed the pen on the paper, because he was so tired, Oliver was sure he would’ve messed up his own name.

The press conference after was a bit better, because Felicity brought him a coffee between the two events.

When they got to the hotel, Oliver was awake enough to take a shower.

Surprisingly, Felicity joined him.

‘Do you mind?’, she sweetly asked.

‘I’m exhausted.’, Oliver frowned at her.

‘Yeah’, she tilted her head, ‘but you’re too hyped up to actually sleep.’

She was right, of course, so Oliver just nodded, turning them around so that Felicity was under the spray of water. She grinned and wet her hair, and Oliver just watched her. He always made sure she made the first move, it was just a weird reassurance he needed, that he was not pressuring her.

And sure enough, Felicity made a move. She slowly put Oliver under the spray of water, his back to her, and Felicity pressed herself to his back, slowly wrapping her arms around his waist, fingers lightly tickling over his abs and lower, until she wrapped her right hand around him, making Oliver gasp, slightly.

She didn’t move past that, though.

‘Do you mind that we’re sharing a room?’, she asked, and Oliver shook his head.

He didn’t, he usually didn’t when it happened. He was used to having Felicity in his space, and she usually booked rooms with two beds.

‘Do you think you’ll mind if we share a room throughout the tour?’, Felicity went on, squeezing slightly. Oliver was half hard already.

‘No’, he grunted, and he got a kiss between his shoulder blades for it.

‘Good’, Felicity whispered against his skin, and started jerking him off.

It was weird. It wasn’t like anything they have ever done before. Oliver couldn’t see her, but he felt her so close. He felt every breath she took and he felt the heat coming from her body. She didn’t say anything, but she hummed every time Oliver made any sort of sound.

When Oliver came, she bit on his shoulder and kept jerking him off trough his orgasm.

It only got weirder after, when Felicity politely asked Oliver to let her shower on her own, and when she came out of the bathroom, she got into Oliver’s bed, even though she refused all of his attempts to return the favor.

Felicity fell asleep long before Oliver did, and he was left with watching her peacefully sleep against his chest, the sounds of cars and Vespas eventually lulling him to sleep as well.

 

**II. Athens**

The signing and press conference in Athens went by in a blur, and they spent the rest of the day visiting the Parthenon.

By the time they got back to the hotel, they were both sweaty and they had tan lines and sore feet.

Oliver let Felicity shower first, and he showered as fast as he could after. He didn’t bother with a shirt, Greece was very hot and humid, but that was okay, because Felicity was wearing a tank top and shorts. She was also on the balcony, and waved Oliver over.

It was weird, because he didn’t get a chance to say anything. As soon as he was by her side, Felicity kissed him, fast and rough. He just went with it, of course he did.

Felicity guided him to the windows separating them from their room, but it was weird, because she didn’t get them inside. Instead, Felicity took off her shorts and Oliver’s bottoms, and before he realized what was happening, he was holding her up against the window and she was guiding him inside of her.

‘We have to be quiet’, was all Felicity said, before she urged him to move.

And he did. He moved slowly at first, but it was clear that wasn’t what she wanted, so he picked up the pace.

Oliver tried his best to keep quiet, as she said, because they were on a balcony of a hotel in Athens, and he could hear their neighbors sitting on their balconies.

Felicity managed to keep herself quiet, but she did so by biting on every piece of Oliver’s skin she could reach, be it his lips or jawline and collarbones.

Felicity came with her eyes shut tightly, biting on his neck. She whimpered and gave Oliver a hell of a hickey. He stopped fucking her, waiting for her to get her bearings back. But it was weird, because when she opened her eyes, she didn’t look away from Oliver. She pushed her fingers to the bruised already forming on Oliver’s neck and ordered him to come.

Oliver started fucking her again, his pace quick and hectic, and Felicity didn’t once flinch, and she never looked away from him.

He came with her name on his lips, and his fingers digging bruises on her outer thighs.

But it was weird, because as silent as she was until then, Felicity laughed when he pulled out of her. And it was weird, because she left her shorts on the balcony and took off her tank top too before getting into bed. With a pang of disappointed, he realized it wasn’t Oliver’s bed.

He was left staring at Felicity’s bare back as she slept, hating the distance between their beds.

 

 **III.**   **Amsterdam**

Felicity tricked him into eating half of a hashbrownie.

To be fair, Oliver didn’t mind. And she made sure, that he was done with work for the day, he was done with the interviews and signings. And he had no idea how Felicity even got it, but they ate it together in their hotel room.

When Oliver figured out that he was high, Felicity grinned, seemingly proud of herself. She also took off her clothes and helped Oliver out of his, before pushing him down on the bed.

They kissed for a while, with Felicity straddling him, slowly moving her hips against his, her wetness grinding against his growing hardness making slick noises that disturbed the silence of the hotel room.

But it was weird, because when Felicity stopped hissing him, she also slowly moved up on Oliver’s body, over his abdomen and onto his chest and she didn’t stop.

Oliver didn’t mind it, when Felicity pressed her knees on either sides of his head, and slowly lowered herself onto his mouth.

But it was weird, because Oliver was high and he felt like his mouth wasn’t his own. And the position was a bit weird, something he never tried before.

And it was weird, because when he usually did this, Felicity would be silent, and subdued, moving as little as possible and biting on her lips to keep any noise escaping. She wasn’t doing that now.

Now, Felicity’s thighs were trembling under Oliver’s hands, her hips were moving slowly, back and forth, back and forth, and he tried his best to sync the movement of his tongue with it.

Her fingers were in Oliver’s hair, and she was using her grip to let him know what she wanted.

It was weird, because Felicity wasn’t silent, far from it. She was moaning and panting Oliver’s name, and she was screaming _yes_ and cursing and she was a mess and Oliver loved it.

He could feel himself leaking onto his stomach but he couldn’t care less.

When Felicity came, her legs were shaking so hard they were rattling the entire bed. She dug her nails into Oliver’s scalp and held his head still, as she screamed his name.

He didn’t stop moving his tongue and lips, until Felicity yelped and fell, bonelessly, her back onto Oliver’s chest. He slowly picked her up and moved her until she was pressed against his side.

Oliver couldn’t help it, he grinned. She was a sweaty mess, still panting, her legs still shaking. They just stood like that for a while, until Felicity calmed down.

When she did, she kissed Oliver roughly, wordlessly wrapping a hand around him and jerking him off furiously. But as the minutes passed, the desperation faded. Their kisses were slower, sweeter, and her hand movements became lazy.

It was weird, because Felicity grinned against his lips when Oliver came, and he didn’t make any sound at all.

They fell asleep in a tangle of a sweaty mess, but Oliver still saw that Felicity had a small smile on her lips.

 

**IV. Berlin**

When Oliver was done with the signing and press conference, he wanted nothing more than to sleep for a couple of days.

But Felicity had other plans. She all but wrestled Oliver into a suit and took him out for dinner.

The food was very good, the restaurant was fancy and nice, the walk through the city was lovely and Felicity looked beautiful.

If Oliver didn’t know better, their evening would’ve felt like a date. Especially when Felicity kissed his cheek before going to bed and wished him sweet dreams.

 

**V. London**

Oliver enjoyed the fans that came to the signing in London, but it’s been raining ever since they landed and frankly, Oliver couldn’t wait to get on a plane and go home.

But he still had the press conference, and a night in a hotel room with Felicity.

‘You’re very private about your personal life’, one reporter said. ‘And we get it, that’s fine’, she smiled, ‘but your fans just want to know if you’re seeing anyone.’

Oliver looked to Felicity, as he always did when this question came up. Usually, she wouldn’t be looking at him. This time, though, she was. And it was weird, because she just shrugged, smiling a bit.

He didn’t know what to make of that. But he knew that he wouldn’t be able to go back to the way they were.

Oliver didn’t really know what happened, didn’t know if it was the surprise sex, the even more surprising dinners or just her constant proximity in the past weeks, but things have changed in Europe.

So he took a deep breath and took a gamble.

‘We haven’t exactly talked about it’, he told the reporter. ‘But there is someone, and she’s… uh’, he spared a look to Felicity, who was watching him without blinking.

‘She’s too important to me’, Oliver smiled back at the reporter, ‘to say anything before talking to her about it.’

The press moved on after that. And Oliver moved on. And Felicity moved on, acting like nothing happened.

As always, Oliver waited for her to make a move. He’d wait a long while, he realized. He’d wait however long it took for Felicity.

So he smiled through dinner that night, and he took her to the pub Felicity insisted on going to. Oliver drank his beers and made sure she didn’t get too drunk, and all but carried Felicity back to the hotel room, where she promptly snuggled up to him in bed.

‘You know’, she whispered, ‘for a writer, you sure have a problem with talking to me. Tell me what you want.’

‘You’, Oliver didn’t hesitate.

Felicity huffed. ‘You already have me.’

He shook his head, slowly.

‘I have you as a friend. And I have you as a partner. You’re my rock, Felicity, but… I want more.’

Felicity sighed and snuggled closer to him, gently pushing her fingers under Oliver’s t-shirt, pressing the tips of her fingers to a certain point on his collarbone, where there were still traces of the hickey she left in Athens.

She kissed him, slowly and sweetly and Oliver didn’t dare breathe.

‘I’ve been waiting for you to catch up’, Felicity whispered against his lips. ‘Kept giving you all the signals I could throughout this trip, but you, Oliver Queen, are an oblivious man.’

He smiled, and pecked her lips a couple of times, making her giggle.

‘Only when it comes to you.’

Felicity full on laughed at that, but it was okay, because she also climbed on top of Oliver, kissed his check and fell asleep with her heart beating in sync with his.


	20. psychotic assholes with anger issues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _When/if you feel like it, I'd love to see a fic where Tommy and laurel are together, and Oliver and felicity are either together or on the verge of being. And o and t just adore f, but L doesn't get it and one day looses it_
> 
> and
> 
> [@sterek22334](http://archiveofourown.org/users/sterek2234) asked: _Can you make a prompt about Laurel jealous of Felicity and Oliver's relationship._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In a world where Tommy lived, and everything else happened more or less the same. I wrote it after 4x3, though. I ... tried my best, to not bash on Laurel. As much. Uhm.

Ever since Felicity and Oliver came back, Laurel couldn’t get past this punching, cold burst of pain she felt at the base of her neck. It was a constant feeling, of uneasiness, of… wrong.

Everything felt wrong.

Laurel couldn’t really remember the last time something felt truly right.

And nobody seemed to care.

Nobody cared that when Felicity and Oliver were in the same room they ignored everybody else.

Nobody cared about how Thea had to kill people in order to be normal.

Nobody cared that Malcom was still alive.

Nobody cared that Sara has left them, again, that she was traveling time and space with a bunch of known killers.

Nobody cared that Digg was focused on catching his brother’s killer, and nothing else.

Nobody cared that Tommy hadn’t stepped in the Foundry in months.

Nobody cared that she could barely breathe, most days.

And it all started when Felicity and Oliver came back.

⃝

There was a fire breathing metahuman loose in their city, and Felicity and Oliver were helping Tommy plan their engagement party.

‘What the hell is wrong with you people?’, Laurel all but snapped, making the three of them turn to look at her.

‘How can you be so … uncaring?’, she went on. ‘Our city is literally burning and you’re discussing canapés!’

‘Laurel’, Tommy said, placating. ‘What-‘

‘You’re just as ignorant as they are!’, she all but roared at her boyfriend.

Tommy’s expression turned darker. ‘What are you talking about?’

Laurel felt like crying, and punching a boxing bag at the same time.

‘I don’t understand how you can’t see how screwed up everything is’, Laurel shook her head. ‘I lost my sister again. Thea is losing all sense of normality. Digg’s obsession has reached unhealthy levels and you… you what?’, she turned toward Tommy. ‘You’re fawning over their relationship’, she pointed at Felicity and Oliver, ‘like it’s the best thing in the world. Everything is falling apart and you’re not even seeing it!’

Oliver and Tommy both started talking over each other, yelling, really. But Laurel wasn’t hearing it. She couldn’t, she wouldn’t, they didn’t have an excuse.

Felicity yelled at them to stop, then promptly all but threw the men outside of the Foundry.

Laurel was angry and she didn’t want to hear anything Felicity had to say. She knew it, anyway. It was going to be some emotional speech, some useless apology or-

‘Do you wanna punch the dummy?’, Felicity asked, surprising Laurel.

Felicity tilted her head. ‘That’s how you usually cope with things these days. And it’s clear that you don’t want to hear what I have to say.’

Laurel frowned. ‘Don’t act like you know me.’

‘I do, though’, Felicity frowned.

‘You don’t.’

Felicity sighed. ‘I know enough to know that you miss Sara like crazy, that you think Tommy stopped carrying for you, even if he’s just trying to give you the space he thinks you need.’

Laurel didn’t say anything, but her anger was constantly growing.

‘I know enough’, Felicity went on, ‘to know that you think Oliver and I coming back screwed everything up.’

‘It did’, there was no hesitation on Laurel’s part.

‘Still’, Felicity blinked, ‘you were the one who said we needed to come back.’

When Laurel still didn’t say anything, Felicity sighed again.

‘You don’t want to hear this, but I’m going to say it anyway. Because of the life that you chose, you guys don’t get to have many breaks. It took Oliver a couple of years to get it, but…’, she smiled, a bit. ‘In order to be happy, you’ll have to put the superhero business on pause, sometimes, and do things that seem completely unnecessary, like planning a stupid engagement party that neither of us really wants’, Felicity mumbled under her breath.

‘The city is on fire’, Laurel said, slowly. ‘And Oliver is too busy staring up your skirt to care.’

Felicity’s smile fell of her face instantly, and Laurel was glad for it. It surprised her, the strength of the glare she was shooting her way, but Laurel didn’t back down.

‘Cisco will be here in an hour, with a modified Cold Gun that will stop the metahuman’, Felicity said slowly.

‘That computer’, she pointed to one Laurel didn’t even notice was on, ‘is working 24-7 or catching any and every little hint of H.I.V.E. Caitlin is using all her spare time to analyze Thea’s blood, hoping she can find a medical cure to the magic side effects.’

‘Sara’s gone, yes’, Felicity said, sadly, ‘and I miss her too. But… she’s happy, doing what she does. And she’s in good hands, Ray has her back.’

When Laurel still didn’t back down, Felicity smiled.

‘You’re angry, I get that. You have every right to be. But this… we’re a team. And because of the times we had your back, the least you could do is respect us enough to take a step back and think for a moment.’

‘You’re calling me stupid, now?’, Laurel huffed.

‘No, I’m calling you blind.’

‘Excuse me?’, Laurel seethed, getting into Felicity’s personal space. She didn’t even flinch.

‘We’ve all been giving you space, Laurel. We haven’t been ignoring you, we’ve been waiting for you to come to us. Sara leaving is a lot to deal with, especially when you don’t have someone to blame’, Felicity threw her a pointed look.

‘And you are blind.’, Felicity went on. ‘Because you don’t see the way Oliver and Lance are treating you like you’re going to break any second, you don’t see Diggle taking punches for you, just so you won’t have to get into a fight, you don’t see how worried Thea is and especially…’, Felicity took a deep breath, ‘you don’t see how desperate Tommy has been in the past weeks, trying to find a ring you’re going to love, and thinking about the best way to propose.’

Laurel’s heart stopped beating.

‘You’re damaged’, Felicity said next. ‘We all are, God knows we are. We’re pretty… crazy, really. Oliver and I deal with our gory lives by being that annoying adorable couple who can’t keep their hands to themselves, and you’re unfortunate enough to have to see it.’

She shook her head. ‘Anyway, you’re damaged, yes, but we all are, and that’s why we’re so good together, because we understand each other and we know how to deal with it.’

‘If distance is not what you want’, Felicity smiled, ‘then all you have to do is ask. If you want to take your anger out on something physical, Oliver will gladly spar with you. If you want to curl up on a couch with a fluffy blanket, Tommy and your dad will fight over the right to cuddle. Thea’s an expert on stress-shopping, and’, Felicity shrugged, ‘I can’t cook for the life of me, but I am a pro at getting take out.’

Felicity grinned, and awkwardly patted Laurel’s shoulder.

‘And after you calm down, we’re all willing to listen, if that’s what you want.’

‘I don’t know if I’ll be able to calm down’, Laurel said, even as she was feeling her anger bleeding out from her.

‘Oh, honey’, Felicity chuckled. ‘Things would be so boring around here if we weren’t psychotic assholes with anger issues.’

Laurel glared, but Felicity just laughed, and started heading towards the exit.

‘I’ll send your future-fiance down.’ she yelled over her shoulder, freezing immediately. ‘Don’t… tell him I told you, he’ll kill me and that would make Oliver very sad.’

Laurel snorted.


	21. I miss Felicity.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roxane asked: _May I leave a prompt ? Like felicity is unwell ( cold)/ out of starling/ out with friends etc and can't come to the lair - the guys are trying to fix a smal problem and they can't do it without her and Roy diggle and Ollie have a bit of grumble at why they need felicity with them Cos they can't cope without her? A funnier version of that ?_
> 
> Not Roy, sorry, but the season 4 gang.
> 
> **Five time Felicity was missed.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (written before 4x6, so before Oliver and Curtis met)

Felicity said she will only be gone a week, 10 days tops. Her mother had to have a small, routine surgery, Felicity assured him it was nothing life threatening, more of a precaution, really. Oliver thought it was plastic surgery, but he didn’t dare say the words out loud.

He wanted to go with her, but he couldn’t do that, what with him running for mayor and all. Felicity leaving town wasn’t great either, for her job or for his campaign, but they logically came to the conclusion that it wasn’t going to be the end of the world, and Oliver wasn’t going to keep her away from her mother.

So Felicity left.

Thing were fine for the first couple of days. Oliver and Thea handled things at the campaign headquarters, and with Digg and Laurel, they handled things in the Foundry.

 

**→One**

And then, a metahuman with a mean punch showed up. He could transform his fists into large metal hammers and Oliver barely caught a glimpse of his face. But they needed to track him down.

Digg tried, for about half an hour, to hack into the street cameras so they could get a visual of the guy.

It was somewhat funny to watch, Digg’s frustration growing and growing to the point of anger in which he kept cursing under his breath.

‘I thought Felicity said she designed … a program to make things easier for us’, Oliver finally said, making Digg invent a curse that made Laurel’s ears go red.

‘I’m trying’, Digg finally gritted out.

‘It’s fine’, Laurel said, unconvincingly, but throwing Oliver a pointed look. ‘We’re not exactly on a time schedule, are we? We just need to find the meta soon. Not… now.’

The glare Digg directed at Laurel was so powerful, it made her apologize and hide behind Oliver.

‘Keep trying, John’, Oliver said as soothingly as possible. ‘I’m sure you’ll figure it out.’

Digg just mumbled something that sounded suspiciously ‘you bet your ass’.

Ten minutes later, Digg cursed, threw the wireless mouse to a wall, picked up his phone and all but growled into it.

‘Captain Lance, I miss Felicity and I need cctt footage. Help.’

Oliver tried his best to contain his laughter.

 

**→Two**

When Laurel explained why she needed to hack into the FBI for a case she was working on, Oliver only half-listened. He couldn’t help, but he easily agreed for Laurel to use the computers in the Foundry, they were as secure as possible.

An hour later, Laurel’s hair was a mess, her eyes were bugging out of her skull and her curses kept increasing in volume.

Oliver just watched silently, a bit scared to approach her.

‘Fuck it’, Laurel finally growled, pushing a few buttons more strongly than necessary and shutting the computer off.

‘I don’t need Felicity’, she said, a defiant look in her face. ‘I can win this case, fair and square, completely legally and without hacking into anything.’

She turned around and left without saying anything more, and Oliver had the decency to wait for the door to close behind Laurel before laughing.

 

**→Three and Four**

Oliver will never get used to the sight of Thea crying. He hated it. This time, however, he could barely control his laughter.

‘This is not funny!’, Thea shrieked, lightly kicking at his chest. ‘I need my phone, okay? In full working order, not frizzing like it is now. Doesn’t Felicity have some…’, she waved her hands around, ‘some miracle program that fixes everything?’

Oliver opened his mouth to respond, but his phone rang.

‘Hi, Mr. Queen. You don’t know me, but I’m Curtis Holt and-‘

‘Curtis’, Oliver interrupted the rapid fire. ‘Felicity told me who you are. And please, call me Oliver.’

‘Oliver’, Curtis breathed out. ‘I’m kinda desperate.’

‘What’s wrong?’, Oliver straightened up.

‘I’m working on something with Mrs. Smoak, something important, and she left without giving me her documents, and I’m basically just sitting here, doing nothing, because I can’t go on without her files, and I hate doing nothing, it’s horrible, and-‘

‘Curtis, breathe’, Oliver instructed.

‘She’s not answering her phone’, Curtis whined. ‘And her computer is ridiculously well protected and-‘

‘Don’t go near her computer’, Oliver said, strongly. ‘She won’t like that.’

‘But I-‘, the poor guy tried, and Oliver felt bad for him, considering how desperate he sounded.

‘I have one of her tablets’, he said, spotting the one she used for Palmer Tech work on one of her desks. ‘I’ll bring it over, and you can access her cloud from there, get the files you need.’

‘Really?’, Curtis asked in a high pitched voice.

‘Sure’, Oliver smirked. ‘But you have to do something for me.’

‘Anything’, Curtis quickly countered. ‘Unless it doesn’t involve me cheating on my husband or killing someone.’

Oliver chuckled. ‘My sister’s phone is acting up and, apparently, she can’t live without it.’

‘Sure, sure, of course, no problem.’, Curtis quickly ratted out. ‘Can you come here? Here, at the office, I mean. I’m on the 31st floor.’

‘We’ll be there in 20 minutes’, Oliver nodded, doing his best to dodge the hug his sister insisted on giving him.

Curtis was a mess when they got there. Talking fast and putting his foot in his mouth, Oliver couldn’t help but smile, because he reminded him of Felicity, back in the early days.

He quickly got to work on Thea’s phone, and as he did so, Oliver silently regarded him. Especially the way his hands were slightly shaking, the way his foot was bouncing up and down, the way his pupils were dilated and, the most important thing, the two empty energy drinks on his desk, and the three still full ones.

Oliver wordlessly emptied them into the trash, but Curtis only noticed it when he was done.

‘What are you doing?’, he shrieked, and Oliver leveled him with a look.

‘Felicity is quite fond of you, and she asked me to keep an eye out.’

Curtis gaped. ‘I don’t know if I’m honored or terrified.’

Thea snorted. ‘Both, if you know what’s good for you.’

Oliver agreed, but didn’t say so.

‘Okay’, Curtis nodded. ‘Okay. Your phone just needed a system reset’, he handed it back to Thea, ‘you lost all your settings but not anything else.’

‘Thank you so much’, Thea breathed out, excitedly hugging a very startled Curtis.

Oliver wordlessly handed him Felicity’s tablet and Curtis ran to plug it into his computer.

Ten minutes later, Curtis was furiously typing away at his computer, Felicity’s tablet still plucked in.

‘Gosh, I really love Miss Smoak’, he breathed out, hitting ten more keys before turning with wide eyes towards Oliver.

‘Not like that’, Curtis shrieked. ‘I swear, not like that.’

‘I know’, Oliver said, slowly. ‘You said you didn’t want to cheat on your husband.’

‘Right’, Curtis gulped. ‘Cool, cool, cool, that’s cool, we’re cool, we are so cool.’

Thea turned to look at Oliver. ‘I love Miss Smoak too, you know.’

Oliver rolled his eyes.

‘I like him too’, Thea grinned, poking Curtis’ arm. ‘Can we keep him?’

‘I’m pretty sure Felicity’s already keeping him.’, Oliver pointed out, smiling.

‘What does that mean?’, Curtis scowled. Oliver just laughed.

‘I really miss your girlfriend.’, Curtis sighed, making Oliver laugh harder.

 

**→Five**

‘I really need you’, Oliver all but cried, gripping his phone tighter.

‘Stop being such a baby’, Felicity sighed on the other side of the phone call. ‘Digg told me he brought you soup and medicine.’

‘But it hurts’, Oliver whined. ‘Everything hurts.’

‘That’s just the fever talking’, Felicity tried to soothe him. ‘Take your pills and drink your soup and everything will be better.’

‘Nothing will be better’, Oliver said while furiously blowing his nose. ‘Everything sucks.’

Felicity snorted.

‘Everything sucks when you’re not here’, he amended.

‘Awh’, Felicity cooed. ‘That was almost romantic.’

Oliver coughed. For a full minute.

‘Everything sucks’, he said, pointedly. ‘When are you coming back?’

‘I’m on the plane, actually. I’ll be home in a couple of hours.’

‘You’re not just saying that to shut me up?’, Oliver asked, highly dubious.

‘The fever’s gotten to your brain’, Felicity laughed. ‘Just go to sleep, love. I’ll be there when you wake up.’

Oliver sniffed. ‘I’ll be very mad if you’re not.’

Felicity laughed. ‘Love you.’

‘Love you too. Come back home.’

 

**→Bonus**

‘So, did I miss anything while I was away?’, Felicity asked brightly.

Everybody avoided looking at her. Then, they all started talking at once.

Digg said she needs to dumb down her programs even more for them, Laurel said that she should make one for hacking into databases too, Thea said she missed her and Oliver said that Curtis doesn’t do well with separation.

‘Uh’, Felicity blinked, then her expression turned murderous. ‘Did any of you touch my computers?’

They all scrambled away.


	22. Robin Hood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [geniewithwifi](http://geniewithwifi.tumblr.com/) asked: _Hey sim! Can we get an Archery contest to win the fair Felicity's heart?! Please? I need a Robin Hood AU_

Oliver lived a double life.

On one hand, he was the Prince of the realm. He lived in a small castle on the outskirts of the King’s estate, he attended all the balls and he was the future King.

On the other hand, the basement of his castle was the base of his operation. He had a low number of men he trusted with his life and his secret, and together they helped the people of their kingdom. They tracked down the wrongdoers and punished them, they stole money from the people who had much of it, and gave it to the ones who didn’t.

Robin Hood, they called Oliver. Robin Hood and his band of merry men.

Ridiculous, Oliver thought, because they were really not merry.

←→

Oliver hated balls, but he had to attend them. He was counting down the seconds until he could leave, but then he saw Felicity.

They’ve known each other since they were little, her father being the King’s right hand man, in charge of the army.

Oliver was very fond of Felicity. She was beautiful and lovely, smart and caring about anything and anybody. They always got along, and she always made his heart feel lighter. It was love, Oliver thought. But she deserved better than Robin Hood.

Still, he didn’t hesitate in going to her side and asking for a dance.

Felicity smiled, at first, brightly and excitedly, but then, her face fell.

‘I’d like to, my lord.’

‘My lord?’, Oliver frowned, because she never called him that when they were alone.

‘But I fear it wouldn’t be appropriate.’, she went on, her eyes downcast.

Oliver was shocked to see a tear running down her cheek. He stepped in front of her, covering her from the view of the rest of the guests, and gently grabbed a hold of her hand.

‘This is me you’re talking to, Felicity’, he said softly. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘My mother says I’m old’, she talked in a rush. ‘That I have to get married, soon, that’s it’s proper. But she won’t arrange a marriage, because, apparently, that’s not the modern way anymore.’

‘So she wants you to find a husband’, Oliver said, slowly, but she shook her head.

‘They’re going to announce an archery tournament.’

Oliver’s blood ran cold.

‘Anybody in the kingdom will be able to participate, but my mother already told me that Slade Wilson will be entering.’

Everybody knew who Slade Wilson was. A rich foreigner, from a land far far away, who moved into their kingdom a few months ago. Oliver knew him, personally, and he hated him. Wilson was a harsh man, crude and cruel.  Plus, he-

‘And everybody knows he’s the best archer in the kingdom’, Felicity said, in sync with Oliver’s thought process.

‘He’s going to win’, Felicity breathed out, her whole body shaking. ‘He’s going to win and I will be forced to marry him.’

‘He won’t win’, Oliver found himself saying, a thought exploding in his head. It was a wild thought, but he knew it will not leave him.

‘He’s the best’, Felicity frowned.

‘What if he’s not?’, Oliver said, forcing Felicity to look up at him. ‘What if he’s not the best archer in the kingdom? What if…’, he hesitated.

‘Oliver’, Felicity tightened her hold on his fingers. ‘What are you saying?’

‘I’d do anything for you’, Oliver found himself saying.

‘I don’t understand’, Felicity frowned.

Oliver couldn’t explain, he couldn’t find the words. And he didn’t know if he was ready to explain, either. But he knew he will be the one to win Felicity’s hand. He will marry her, and he will love Felicity for the rest of his life, even if she will never feel the same.

It was mad. Oliver was absolutely mad for even thinking about it. But looking at Felicity, at how she was crying, holding onto his hand tightly, desperate and afraid, so afraid…

‘I won’t let you be unhappy, Felicity’, Oliver breathed out. ‘I promise.’

She didn’t understand, that much was clear, but she hugged Oliver tightly, right there, in the middle of the ballroom, not caring who saw them.

←→

Oliver wanted to appear at the tournament wearing his green hood, Robin Hood’s trademark. His men convinced him not to, they couldn’t afford Robin Hood’s identity to be revealed.

So Oliver went to his parents. Who laughed in his face, to begin with. Then they talked about how they knew how much Oliver cared about Felicity, and that they have discussed it with her parents and they all thought a marriage wasn’t the best option, for either of them.

Oliver doesn’t think he has ever felt more anger in his life.

‘I will be shooting at the tournament’, he said lowly. ‘And I will win. And you will have absolutely no say in it.’

He left the castle without another word.

←→

On the day on the tournament, Oliver still wore a hood. Like Robin Hood, but this one was black. It hid his face, which was exactly what he wanted.

John joined him, for support, he said. Roy came too, he even entered the competition, but just for fun. Oliver could beat him, anyway.  

Felicity looked breathtaking. Her hair was in a complicated braid, falling down on her right shoulder, gold gems and sparkly stones pinned in it. She was wearing a gorgeous red gown, with a gold shawl over it.

But the look in her eyes broke Oliver’s heart. She was smiling brightly, but her eyes told a different story. Felicity was terrified.

Her parents were by her side, and Oliver wasn’t surprised to see his parents in the tribune as well. They all ignored Felicity, neither of them saw the pain in her eyes, the terror and dread. Oliver wanted to yell at them for being so ignorant and stupid.

He saw Slade talking to Oliver’s father, and they were laughing, and no doubt Slade was acting like he already won the competition. Oliver wanted to make him bleed.

‘Are you sure about this?’, John asked for the billionth time.

‘I’m going to win’, Oliver said, confidently.

‘I don’t doubt that’, Digg shook his head. ‘But your parents are going to freak out, her parents are going to freak out, she is going to freak out and-‘

‘And I don’t care’, Oliver interrupted. ‘I’ve loved her for … forever, Digg.’

‘But she doesn’t know that’, John insisted.

‘I think she does’, Oliver smiled. ‘She may not realize it, but she knows it. And… we’ll deal with it.’

John laughed. ‘You’ll deal with being married?’

Oliver turned to him with a grin. ‘I’ll deal with making her happy from the rest of our lives.’

←→

Oliver easily flew past the first three challenges. Nobody paid him much attention.

Then, they were 32 contestants left. From this point on, their targets will get smaller and further away with each round that passed.

They went in groups of 8, at first, and Oliver ended up with Roy. Both of their arrows hit in the middle of the target, so they both passed to the next round, where 20 were left.

Once again, Oliver and Roy were both in a group, with 3 other people, but this time, they were the only two archers whose arrows hit their targets.

Then, there were only 8 left. When Slade saw Oliver, he laughed and made a crude joke about his hood. Oliver ignored him, but he would have punched Slade if Roy didn’t pointedly tell him to back down.

By this point, the targets were about the size of a shield, and they were 500 feet away. Oliver had no problem with hitting the target.

Roy should’ve had no problem either, and he didn’t, not really, considering he hit the middle of the target. However, he hit the target next to his, so he was disqualified. Roy did in on purpose, Oliver knew, to take himself out of the competition. The young man winked at Oliver on his way out, and Oliver couldn’t help but be proud of his protégé.

He was wrapped up in these thoughts, so Oliver was startled when the tournament speaker said there were only two contestants left. But sure enough, when Oliver turned around, Slade was grinning at him.

‘Ready to go down, Hood Man?’

Oliver just huffed.

The official speaker tried to make Oliver say his name, but he refused to, cockily saying that they’ll all find out his name when he wins. Slade was the one who laughed the hardest at that.

There were only two targets set up, only slightly bigger than a plate. They were also on top of a hill, and the rules were simple. They’d shoot at the same time, and take 10 steps back after each arrow. The first one to miss will lose.

Oliver had no problem hitting the targets, and Slade didn’t either. They shot a lot of arrows, and after moving back 10 times, the tournament official and everybody else was getting frustrated.

So they emptied the targets, and agreed to shoot each other’s targets.

Oliver’s heart was beating rapidly in his chest, and his eyes kept moving to Felicity. She was more anxious than before, and she was shaking, on her feet but holding onto her mother’s hand for support.

He knew he loved her. Oliver knew he was in love with Felicity, has been for a very long time. And he was scared. He was scared that he was going to lose to Slade, and he was afraid that he will win and Felicity wouldn’t accept him for a husband.

But he had control over one of these situations, so Oliver’s aim didn’t waver, he did his best to always his the target and ignore all the taunts Slade was whispering at him.

‘This is boring’, was all Oliver said, a few long minutes into the challenge.

Slade missed then. His arrow went past the target, into the trees, and for a moment, everything was silent. Then, the crowd erupted in cheers and Oliver’s eyes instantly went out to Felicity.

Her eyes were wide, Oliver was sure she was fighting back tears, but beyond the terror and dread in her eyes, he could also see hope.

It made him smile.

Oliver politely shook hands with Slade, who was fuming silently, but they didn’t exchange any words. Then, Oliver was dragged in front of the tribune, in front of Felicity and her parents and his parents.

‘I wish to know who my daughter’s future husband is’, her father said gruffly, rage evident in his eyes.

Oliver slowly took off his hood, and every sound died. Nobody cheered, nobody said anything. He locked eyes with Felicity and smiled.

‘Why-‘, her voice broke, and she had to take a deep breath before talking again.

‘Why did you do this?’, her eyes skipped to Slade, and Oliver knew what she was asking. She wanted to know if he only did it to save her from Slade.

‘Because I love you’, Oliver didn’t hesitate in saying, even if it made all their parents gasp.

Then, he took a low bow, never taking his eyes off Felicity. ‘My princess.’

That made Felicity start crying. Properly. But she also moved, rushing down the stairs and in a blink of an eye, she was standing in front of Oliver.

‘Do you…’, she tried. ‘Do you really…?’

Oliver just shook his head and wrapped his arms around her. Felicity didn’t hesitate in hugging him back, and she was shaking, terribly so, and she was crying. His heart was beating rapidly in his chest, and he felt a shiver go down his spine, and the crowd started cheering again, but Oliver didn’t care.

‘I love you’, he said. ‘And no matter what you decide, I shall always try my best to keep you happy and safe.’

‘There is no decision’, Felicity said, pushing away slightly so she could look at him.

‘There is’, Oliver insisted. ‘I will never do anything to hurt you. If you not wish to marry me, then-‘

‘No’, Felicity interrupted, finally smiling. ‘There’s no decision, because I will always choose you.’

When she pressed her lips to his, Oliver felt like the happiest man alive.

←→

It didn’t take long for Felicity to figure out he was Robin Hood. He and his men tried their best to hide it from her, after Felicity moved into the castle, but it was pointless.

She just showed up in their base very late one night, just as they were coming back. Felicity brought them food and drinks, and wrinkled her nose in distaste at the sight of their medical supplies. She introduced herself to all of the men, with a smile on her face no matter how dirty or bloody the man was, and she patched up the ones who were hurt. She also gave Oliver a quick kiss (that made the men whistle) and told him she was very proud of her Robin Hood (that made Oliver sigh in relief).

Then, she ate with them and sang their praises, about how brave they were, and how they were heroes for helping their kingdom the way they did. And she vowed to keep their secret and to do whatever in her power to help them.

Needless to say, each and every one of Robin Hood’s merry men liked Felicity, and over time, they all grew to love her. But, whereas everybody in the kingdom addressed her with “Princess”, they called Felicity “Mrs. Hood”. She loved it, and secretly, Oliver loved it too.

But not as much as he loved his wife.


	23. getoffme

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [placeofold](http://placeofold.tumblr.com/) asked: _OTPdisaster: Your OTP is married. One night Person A is undressing and tucking in a drunk Person B. About halfway through the undressing, Person B starts yelling and roughly shoving off Person A screaming, “Get off me you bastard, I’m in love with my wife/husband!” Person A, though touched, can only side-eye them so hard._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh, hi there!  
> I'm still here, yeah. Sorry I haven't posted in a while. But to make up for it, you're going to get an (awesome, I hope) two-parter next. 12k words of an AU that involves orange tshirts hehehe.  
> but. until then. Here, have this quicky! :)

Despite the popular opinion, Oliver was pretty old fashioned.

So he spoke with Felicity’s mother before he proposed. He asked for Thea’s permission, to use their mother’s ring. He got on one knee when he proposed to Felicity, and he tried to make it as special as possible.

For the wedding, he did his best to respect Felicity’s wishes, but he had a few of his own.

Oliver made sure to never see her in her wedding dress and they spent the night before the ceremony apart.

He got gifts for his best men (Digg, Barry and Cisco seemed to like the knives he made for them) and he made sure Felicity did the same for her maids of honor (Thea, Laurel and Caitlin enjoyed their spa days).

He let himself be dragged to a bachelor party, even though he spent the night texting Felicity, as she was equally uninterested in her bachelorette party.

He was there when Felicity asked Captain Lance to walk her down the aisle, and he let himself be threatened by the older man.

At the ceremony, he wrote his own vows, and they were heavily inspired by the ones his parents used. At the party, he danced a perfect waltz with Felicity for their first dance, and immediately after, he danced with Felicity’s mother, while his wife danced with Captain Lance. But after that, he made sure to dance with every woman who ever had his back, from his sister and Laurel to Caitlin and Lyla.

So when they finally got to the very expensive honeymoon suit they rented, he ignored Felicity’s protests and picked her up, carrying her over the threshold.

‘I thought you were supposed to do this home’, Felicity mumbled against his chest.

‘I’ll do this home as well’, Oliver winked.

He easily carried Felicity to the bed, where she sighed happily when her head hit the pillows. As Oliver took off her shoes, he realized Felicity might have been a little drunk. It didn’t matter to him, not really.

She was his wife. They have many sober nights ahead of them, as well as many other drunken ones.

‘Stop’, Felicity groaned, as Oliver moved to take off her dress.

‘Felicity?’, Oliver asked, frowning.

‘Stop’, she said more forcefully. ‘Get away, you bastard!’, she started hitting Oliver, though not very strongly.

He was frozen to the spot, so Felicity kept kicking at him, and her voice grew louder with every angry word she said.

‘I’m married to my beautiful husband’, Felicity shrieked, ‘you can’t have me.’

All the anxiety disappeared from Oliver, and he laughed, carefree and so, so happy. He collapsed next to her on the bed, and even if Felicity kept struggling, Oliver held her close, with a hand thrown over her waist and he buried his face in her hair.

She calmed down after a while.

‘How much did you drink?’, he asked, voice muffled by her curls.

‘Oliver?’, Felicity asked, confused. She turned her head, until her eyes caught his, and she smiled.

It looked like Oliver felt: happy, content, excited. Loved. In love.

‘Hi, husband’, Felicity whispered sweetly, and Oliver chuckled again, as he pressed his lips to hers.

‘How much did you drink?’, he asked around a smirk when he pulled back.

‘A little too much, I think’, Felicity frowned. ‘I blame Thea. And Cisco. And Barry, and Caitlin, and Laurel and-‘

Oliver laughed and silenced her with another kiss, which Felicity happily responded to, sighing happily.

‘As much as I love you in that dress’, he told her softly, ‘it’s not very practical to sleep in.’

Felicity huffed. ‘Mr Queen, are you trying to get me naked?’

Oliver laughed again. ‘Not really. We have the rest of our lives for that, and you’re tired now.’

‘I love you so much’, Felicity breathed against his lips.

She didn’t say anything else, just got up and made her way to the bathroom. She stumbled twice, but refused Oliver’s help.

He heard a few curses and yelps while she was in the bathroom, but then he heard the shower turn on, so she was probably fine. So Oliver took off his clothes and put on a pair of his lazy pajama pants, and he waited.

When Felicity came out of the bathroom, she took his breath away. Her face was void of makeup and her hair was wet, falling over her shoulders. She was wearing bright red panties and an equally red lace bra. Her legs seemed endless, the wedding ring was glistening on her finger and she was smiling softly.

Felicity didn’t say anything as she made her way to Oliver, where he stood at the end of the bed, and she didn’t say anything as she sat on his lap and kissed him thoroughly.

When she pulled away to catch her breath, she grinned.

‘Caitlin gave me a … pill, that she made. I’m fully sober now.’

Oliver just raised an eyebrow.

‘Plus’, Felicity went on, smirking cheekily, ‘don’t think I didn’t notice how you did all of this, our wedding, very properly. And it’s only proper for us to…’, she tilted her head, ‘rock this bed on our wedding night.’

‘I love you, Felicity’, was all Oliver managed to say.

She snickered and gently pushed him down onto the bed.

‘That’s Mrs. Queen to you.’


	24. Quest to Delphi: part I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Anon wanted a Percy Jackson AU. I really wanted to write a Percy Jackson AU._
> 
> Four years after the war against Gaia, Apollo requests his strongest son to leave on a quest. Athena requests her most underrated daughter to join him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As the title says, this is part one. In total, it's about 12k words. You're getting part two tomorrow, so don't worry about the massive cliffhanger at the end of this chapter :D.  
> Gosh, I hope I did it justice. Here you go.

 

  **F E L I C I T Y**

In the seven months Felicity’s been at Camp Half-Blood, she learned a lot.

It all started when her father died in a car crash. She was still crying in the hospital waiting room when Barry came to see her. That was her first lesson: Barry wasn’t just her friend and her highschool colleague, he was also a half-blood, a son of Ares, the god of war.

The second lesson Felicity learned was that Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, was her mother.

From that point on, Felicity didn’t stop learning.

She learned what Camp Half-Blood was, and she moved in, with Barry’s help. She learned that she fit right in with the other kids from Athena’s cabin.

She learned a lot about the gods. The first month at camp, she did nothing else except for reading all the books Chiron had to give her. And she learned about the demi-gods, the half-bloods, the heroes and their quests. She learned about the Titan War and the War against Gaia.

She learned about the monsters that heroes and gods faced, and she learned how not to let nightmares disturb her.

She learned about the Roman gods and Camp Jupiter and somehow, she always knew when one of the campers was Roman, even if they never actually talked or even if she never saw their SPQR tattoo.

She learned how to wield a sword, even though she wasn’t very good at it. But she also learned that when they played Capture the Flag, she was one of the best strategist.

She learned how to help around Camp, either dealing with Chiron’s tech, or on the strawberry field, in the infirmary or armory, wherever she was needed.

And when summer came, she learned what Camp Half-Blood was like when it was full to the brim. It was fun, especially with Percy and Leo being there for the summer. Felicity didn’t really know them personally, Annabeth was the only one of the seven she talked with, because they were sisters.

But Felicity had to admit, a full Camp, as chaotic as it got, was a very fun camp. And the seven demi-gods who were prophesized to fight against Gaia, even though they were older and even though the rest of the camp viewed them as celebrities, they made Camp Half-Blood even better.

Felicity was still mourning after her father, she probably always will be. But being at Camp, it was the first time in her life when she felt like she belonged.

Now, though, was the first time Felicity felt terrified.

 

**F E L I C I T Y**

There were only two weeks of camp left, and you could feel it in the air. Everybody’s excitement was constantly growing, like they were trying to compensate for the fact that they didn’t have a lot of time together left.

The younger kids were always running around and screaming at the top of their lungs, and the older teenagers kept trying to find places where they had privacy. Not just the couples, which there were quite a few of, but everyone wanted to spend some quality time with their friends.

Pranks were happing every other hour, like clockwork, dinners were louder than a war and even in the Athena cabin, it took a long time for everybody to settle down for the night.

Chiron told her once, her first week, that it’s been a long time since Camp felt like a camp. But after the war against Gaia, which took place four years ago, everything settled. Apollo was missing, the camp’s Oracle was out of commission, no prophecies and quests were announced, all was well.

Except that Felicity knew better. She found out before anybody else, maybe even before Chiron. She was terrified and she couldn’t even tell anybody, she had to wait until dinner, until Chiron will make the announcement.

Her brothers and sisters noticed something was wrong with her. Barry did as well, when Felicity declined his invitation for sparring. Even one of the Ares kids asked her if she was okay, because Felicity snapped at him, and that was something she never did.

So Felicity spent most of the day as far away from everyone she could. She prayed to her mother for strength, she tried her best to calm down her panic, and when dinner time came around, she stepped into the pavilion with her back straight and her chin up.

 

**F E L I C I T Y**

‘Apollo visited me this morning’, Chiron said, making the Camp fall silent entirely, except for one of the smaller kids from the Apollo cabin, who gasped.

‘Zeus has released him from penance-‘

‘I still didn’t get any prophecies’, Rachel interrupted.

Chiron sighed. ‘If you would let me speak, I shall explain.’

After Rachel stammered out an apology, the centurion went on.

‘The reason why the gift of prophecy is still locked is because Apollo has not taken back control of Delphi. And we must help him with this.’

Once again, there was silence over the camp.

Annabeth was the first one to talk, and Felicity expected nothing less from her sister.

‘Apollo wants to send us on a quest to save his temple?’

‘Yes’, Chiron nodded, ‘but not you. He specifically requested I keep you seven away from this quest.’

Of course, the seven demi-gods who fought against Gaia started yelling, indignantly. But one glare from Chiron got them to settle back down.

‘You too, Nico’, Chiron said, turning to Hades’ son who was already half our of his chair. ‘You’re banned too.’

Nico sat back down. He was at the Apollo table, like he usually was, side pressed against his boyfriend, Will. Everybody at that table was very tense, but nobody was as bad as Will. But there was also a sparkle of determination in his eyes, and sure enough, Will stood up and volunteered.

‘No, Will’, Chiron smiled.

‘Yes’, he countered. ‘I’m the counselor of the Apollo cabin, the oldest one still at Camp. I have to go.’

‘Your father was very specific about who will go on this quest’, Chiron said softly, his voice calming Felicity down. ‘And it shall be Oliver.’

The campers were quiet, so everybody heard Oliver’s confused ‘oh’.

Oliver Queen was one of the popular ones. Best archer at camp, annoyingly good with every other weapon and he held the lava wall time record. He was strong and smart, but he was also cocky and he always had a trail of girls behind him. Of course, Felicity never spoke with him before.

After a few long, awkward seconds, Will reluctantly sat down and Oliver stood up, and all the other campers started to clap and shout their encouragements. Felicity clearly saw that Oliver took strength from them, because by the time Chiron silenced everybody down, Oliver’s back was straight and he was even smiling.

‘There will be three demi-gods going on this quest, as always’, Chiron said. ‘Oliver, you may ask whom you want to join you, or they can volunteer.’

An alarmingly large teenager from the Ares table stood up.

‘Besides me, that is.’, was all he said, and it made Oliver sigh in relief.

John Diggle was Oliver’s best friend at camp, they were by each other’s side all summer long, and Felicity knew they kept in touch outside of camp, too. John was a very good fighter, ruthless and strong, but he was also kind. Felicity crossed paths with him in the infirmary a couple of times, and he was always nice to her.

‘Thanks, Digg’, Oliver said, making John smirk.

‘We need one more’, Digg said. ‘Who’ll it be?’

‘Me’, Felicity sighed, getting up from her chair, trying her best to ignore how her legs shook.

Of course, everybody fell silent. Even Chiron was frowning.

‘And who are you?’, Oliver asked, and Felicity glared at him.

He just blinked a couple of times, frowning profoundly.

‘Felicity’, Chiron said in a very soft voice. ‘You’ve just been here for a couple of months. Someone with more experience might be better.’

‘Of course’, Felicity nodded. ‘However, my mother visited me last night and she all but ordered me to go.’

Awkward silence. So much. Awkward. Silence. And the entire camp staring at Felicity.

‘I hate it when that happens’, Annabeth said, and Felicity smiled at her, relieved to hear some people laugh.

‘Very well’, Chiron said. ‘You shall leave in the morning. Please come see me before you go to bed.’ Then, the centurion smiled. ‘Now, my heroes, the camp bonfire awaits.’

 

**O L I V E R**

Scared, was the majority of what Oliver was feeling. Excited as well, because this was his first quest. Proud, because his father trusted him with this. Thankful, for Digg’s support. And intrigued, because he had no idea how he didn’t know who Felicity was.

She was gorgeous, absolutely beautiful, completely Oliver’s type, he had no idea how he didn’t notice her before.

‘Please remember she’s a daughter of Athena’, Digg said at one point during the campfire, when Oliver couldn’t do anything else but stare at Felicity.

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘It means’, Digg smirked, ‘that she’s too smart for you.’

Oliver frowned, because Digg was probably right. He wasn’t smart, not really. He was a soldier, not a strategist.

‘Still’, Digg went on, thoughtfully, ‘this is the first time I’ve seen you actually looking at a girl.’

Oliver frowned at his best friend, making Digg roll his eyes.

‘You’re surrounded by chicks at every step, and you always ignore them completely. The ones you don't, you have fun for a night and forget about them in the morning. And now, you’re staring. Intensely. It’s kinda creepy.’

‘I don’t know’, Oliver admitted. ‘She is beautiful, I… can’t believe I never saw her before around camp. But…’

‘But what?’, Digg frowned.

‘She doesn’t seem like the type of girl to volunteer for a quest.’

‘Yeah’, John nodded. ‘But her mother told her to do it.’

‘Why, though?’, Oliver insisted.

Digg blinked a couple of times, then sighed, turning to look at where Felicity was deep in conversation with Annabeth.

‘I don’t know, man.’, he finally said. ‘Gods always do weird things. I guess we’ll figure it out.’

‘Yeah’, Oliver sighed. ‘I guess so.’

 

**O L I V E R**

‘Hi’, a very sweet voice said, and honest to gods, Oliver’s breath left him as he laid eyes on Felicity.

‘Hey, Felicity’, Digg said smoothly from his side, snapping Oliver out of it.

‘Hello’, he said. ‘Thank you, for volunteering.’

She scrunched up her nose, and because of the adorableness of it, Oliver barely heard what she said next.

‘Please don’t thank me, I wouldn’t have done it in a million years if my mother didn’t put me up to it.’

‘Oh’, Oliver breathed out. ‘Right. Anyway, I-‘

‘We should go see Chiron’, Digg interrupted, pointedly shoving his elbow into Oliver’s stomach.

But it made Felicity snicker, so Oliver didn’t comment on it.

‘Sure’, he gritted out. ‘Let’s go.’

 

**O L I V E R**

Chiron didn’t tell them a lot. He had no idea what awaited them in Delphi, but he knew the road to Greece will be filled with monsters.

He could give them a chariot, but nothing to fly it. He could give them supplies and weapons, but not much else.

The centaur tried his best to encourage them, but Oliver felt an empty hole in his stomach as he opened the door to the Big House to leave.

He paused on his way out, because there were eight pairs of eyes glaring at him.

Before he got to say anything, the senior campers pushed him back inside, making Chiron sigh deeply.

‘Children.’, he said, gravely.

‘We are not children anymore’, Percy pouted.

‘We don’t like this’, Jason said, and everybody else nodded.

‘I told you’, the centaur shook his head, ‘Apollo forbid it.’

‘We appreciate it’, Felicity said, wrapping an arm around Annabeth’s shoulders, ‘but please calm down.’

‘This is dangerous’, Annabeth said strongly, ‘and very important for the future of gods and half-bloods alike, and you’re all inexperienced.’

‘Yeah, yeah, yeah’, Felicity rolled her eyes, ‘you’re concerned, we get it. But you’re awfully close to becoming assholes.’

Oliver gaped at her, because he thought Felicity was a sweet girl. But here she was, throwing names at the most powerful heroes of their generation.

‘Excuse you, blondie-‘, Leo started by saying, but Felicity cut him off.

‘You’re acting like you’re all powerful and all mighty’, Felicity said, laughing a bit. ‘And you might be, we’ve all heard the stories, but that doesn’t mean we’re useless. Honestly, it’s making me feel bad.’, she sighed, all laughter gone and clearly hesitating. ‘I’m doubting myself now, and that’s not a good thing to do in a quest.’

‘Felicity’, Annabeth tightened his hold on her, ‘that’s not-‘

‘And it’s not like we could back out of it now’, Felicity interrupted her. ‘We’re here because of Apollo and Athena, we can’t go against them. I mean, yeah, Digg could back out, but he’s not going to, because of Oliver.’

‘Damn right’, Digg said strongly, once again making Oliver sigh in relief.

‘What did Apollo say?’, Annabeth frowned at Chiron. ‘Word by word.’

‘That the seven and Nico cannot start this quest.’

Annabeth’s eyes twinkled, and so did Nico’s.

‘So he didn’t say we can’t get involved’, Annabeth smirked, as Nico took a step forward, until he was standing in front of Felicity.

‘Do you have a phone?’

‘Yeah’, she frowned.

‘And is it going to work?’

‘Yes’, she glared, seemingly affronted. ‘It’s a satellite phone so it works anywhere, it has a wireless router incorporated, five times more autonomy than a normal phone and it has a solar powered battery.’

Leo slowly bent his body, until he could look at Felicity around Percy, who was standing in front of him.

‘And where did you get that?’

‘I made it’, Felicity bristled a bit.

‘When?’, Leo frowned. ‘I didn’t see you in the workshop?’

‘Last year.’

At that, Leo’s eyes twinkled. He opened his mouth to say something, but Felicity cut him off, turning to Chiron.

‘And it’s perfectly safe. The way I made it, it took me a few tries, but I don’t think monsters are attracted to it anymore. Really, I think with a bit of work, I could adapt the technology for different things, so that we could have some tech in this camp. Some security, for starters, and I think everybody would like having Internet and especially Skype, to talk with parents, and it’ll help-‘

‘Felicity’, Digg interrupted her. ‘You’re rambling.’

She blushed instantly, making Oliver smile.

‘Sorry’, she whispered. ‘I do that.’

‘When you get back from this quest’, Leo said slowly, ‘we are going to be best friends.’

Felicity smiled at that, blushing even more, but was startled out of it by Nico, who demanded her phone.

He typed at it for a while before giving it back.

‘You have all our phone numbers’, Nico told her. ‘Will and Clarisse too’, he said with a look at Oliver and Digg.

‘You know what we can do.’, Nico smirked, slightly. ‘So call.’

‘Thank you’, Felicity breathed out.

‘We appreciate it’, Oliver felt the need to say, and Nico locked eyes with him and nodded slowly.

‘And Blackjack agreed to fly you there’, Percy said, and Felicity’s eyes grew wide, in sync with Oliver. He really didn't expect to have Percy's Pegasus on this quest.

‘I love Blackjack’, Felicity breathed out, absently squeezing Percy's arm.

‘I know’, he smirked. ‘He likes you too, that’s why he agreed easily.’

‘We owe you one, Percy’, Felicity breathed out.

‘Nope’, Annabeth grinned. ‘It was my idea, so you owe me.’

They all laughed at that, except for Percy who pouted, but Chiron all but threw them out and sent them to bed, and that prompted everyone to walk out of the Big House and on to their respective cabins.

 

**O L I V E R**

He didn’t sleep well that night, but it was to be expected.

After gathering his backpack and supplies, he made his way to the archery field, where the chariot and Blackjack were waiting. Chirion was there too, with Annabeth, Nico and Will.

Felicity was hugging Barry, to Oliver’s surprise, because he was good friends with Barry. Once again, Oliver didn’t understand how he didn’t meet Felicity before.

‘You’ll be careful’, Barry was saying when Oliver got there.

‘You’re embarrassing me’, Felicity giggled, but hugged him even tighter.

‘It’s okay’, Barry snorted. ‘Cause I love you and I’m going to miss you and I’m going to be a mess until you’re back home safely.’

Felicity laughed. ‘Love you too, you ridiculous person. Now let me go.’

With that, she pushed him away, and Barry didn’t hesitate in hugging Oliver immediately. He was surprised by it, but thankfully, there were no heartfelt declarations between them.

When they pulled away, Oliver saw that Felicity was now being hugged by Annabeth, the two blondes whispering softly in their embrace.

He didn’t get to dwell on it, because Will and Nico were by Oliver’s side, and his cabin’s counselor was wrapping him in a hug as well.

‘You’re going to make dad proud’, was all Will said, for which Oliver was thankful.

‘I’ll try my best.’

‘And I’ll help’, a new voice said, and Oliver turned around to grin at a bleary eyes Digg.

‘It’s way too early for anything’, John yawned, ‘especially a quest.’

‘Good think I made coffee, then’, Felicity said brightly, coming by their side. ‘And packed up breakfast.’

‘Mhhhh’, Digg hummed. ‘I knew you’d be nice to have around.’

Felicity snickered and playfully kicked at his shoulder.

‘You should be heading out’, Chiron said. ‘May the gods be with you and I hope to see you soon.’

They all muttered their thanks, but Felicity pulled on Chiron’s _Party Ponies_ teal t-shirt, until the centurion bended down, at eye level with her. Felicity then sweetly kissed his cheek, and Oliver’s been at Camp Half-Blood for three years, and he has never seen Chiron blush. Until now.

She then kissed Barry’s cheek too, and gave a brief hug to Will (seriously, this was getting ridiculous, she’s friends with his cabin’s councilor, how in Hades did Oliver not know her yet?).

And then they were off.

 

**D I G G**

Digg had the pleasure of knowing both Oliver and Felicity before this.

Granted, Oliver was closer to him than a brother, and they’ve known each other for years, their first day at Camp. Digg knew Oliver better than he knew himself, probably. He didn’t talk often with Felicity, but he saw her work in the infirmary every now and then, so Digg knew how kind she was. And he heard rumors around camp, about how good she was at strategies for Capture the Flag.

Now, sitting on the back of the chariot with Oliver while Felicity took the first shift on steering Blackjack, Digg was trying his best not to laugh.

Because Oliver kept staring at the back of Felicity’s head. Every other minute, he’d open his mouth like he was going to say something, but he never did.

And every now and then, Felicity would look over her shoulder. Oliver would immediately look away, and Felicity would blush, blink at him for a while, before turning back around.

‘So, Felicity’, Digg decided to cut the crap. ‘Oliver’s very shocked that he didn’t know you before this.’

Oliver punched him in the shoulder, and it was going to bruise, but Digg thought it was worth it, judging by Felicity’s surprised raised eyebrows.

‘Well’, she said slowly, ‘we don’t really run in the same circles.’

‘We do, apparently’, Oliver finally found his voice. ‘My best friend knows you’, he pointed to Digg, ‘my cabin councilor hugs you and I’m pretty good friends with your boyfriend.’

John smothered his laugh against his fist.

‘I don’t have a boyfriend’, Felicity frowned.

‘Barry?’, Oliver tilted his head.

She shook her head a couple of times, before sighing and looking away.

‘Everybody assumes that, but we’re not together. Don’t get me wrong’, Felicity chuckled, ‘we’re some sort of soulmates, because it’s unworthily how well we get along, but Barry and I are always going to be completely platonic.’

Oliver was gaping. Once again, John had to elbow him to make him snap out of it.

‘That’s nice’, Oliver said, blushing immediately after, and John couldn’t help but pity the guy.

‘So what’s the plan?’, Digg asked, the only subject change he could think about.

‘Straight till Portugal’, Felicity answered, her voice swift and straightforward. ‘We’re going to spend a night there, Blackjack’s going to need rest.’

The Pegasus neighed loudly, clearly understanding Felicity and agreeing with her.

‘After that’, she went on, ‘it’s going to be dangerous, so I wouldn’t want to take him with us.’

‘I agree’, Oliver was quick to say, making Digg raise an eyebrow.

‘Will told me last night, a few things Nico told him along the way, from the war. So yeah, we’re leaving Blackjack in Portugal.’

The Pegasus made another sound, which Digg thought sounded vaguely like ‘Thanks’.

‘We could rent a car in Portugal’, Oliver went on.

Felicity turned to look at him, highly skeptical.

‘Do you have a lot of mortal money?’, she asked, incredibly sarcastic.

Once again, Digg smothered a laugh.

‘Yes’, Oliver said after a few beats. ‘My step-dad is rich.’

It was Felicity’s time to gape.

‘And Digg and I both have our licenses’, Oliver went on, ‘so we can take turns driving.’

‘Okay’, Felicity breathed out. ‘A car beats running. From monsters.’

‘You’re a ray of sunshine’, Oliver deadpanned, and even though Felicity laughed, she blushed furiously.

Quest and monsters and all, it was going to be a long ride, Digg was sure of it.

 

**D I G G**

Everything was well until they got to Portugal.

They didn’t encounter any monsters, for which Digg was grateful, but they were now sitting in front of a very nice hotel, and Felicity and Oliver were arguing.

‘It’s too expensive, we can head out to those woods, and camp out there’, Felicity said for the billionth time.

‘I have money’, Oliver rolled his eyes. ‘Who knows when we’re going to get a chance to sleep in a bed again? And we’re all exhausted from the flight here.’

‘Fine’, Felicity gritted out, her cheeks red. ‘Then I want a single.’

‘Absolutely not’, Oliver roared. ‘I’m not leaving you out of my sight.’

Felicity spluttered. ‘I can take care of myself.’

‘I don’t want to risk it.’, Oliver sighed. ‘There’s a reason why quests are always done by _three_ half-bloods, not by two half-bloods, and another half-blood.’

‘You’re insufferable’, Felicity stretched her hands like she was going to strangle Oliver, but she didn’t.

‘I’m also in charge of this quest’, Oliver said, and Digg knew that was going to come back and bite him in the ass.

‘So you’re sleeping with us.’, he went on, strongly.

Felicity blushed.

‘In the same room. I mean’, Oliver blinked, not really managing to save himself.

John shook his head and dragged them both inside the hotel.

 

**D I G G**

Felicity came out of the shower wearing a pair of pink shorts and a very loose Camp shirt that clearly wasn’t hers.

Upon seeing John’s raised eyebrow, she blushed.

‘I may have stole it from Barry.’, she admitted, throwing herself in the middle of her bed.

‘How?’, Oliver asked.

‘For a bunch of Ares kids’, Felicity shrugged, ‘most of them sleep very deeply when they’re safe at Camp.’

Digg’s jaw dropped. ‘Did you break into our cabin?’

‘Yup’, Felicity grinned. ‘You snore.’

John didn’t deny it, he knew he did.

‘Only Clarisse woke up’, Felicity went on. ‘But she doesn’t believe I’m not sleeping with Barry, so she let me go.’

Oliver pointedly slammed the door to the bathroom, but Digg wasn’t sure he was aware he did it.

‘What’s his problem?’, Felicity frowned.

Digg didn’t bother answering.

 

**D I G G**

A couple of hours later, Digg woke up to Felicity screaming.

When he looked around the room, he saw Felicity on her back, on the floor between her and Oliver’s beds, screaming her lungs out. Oliver was on top of her, and there was some sort of ghost on his back.

Digg panicked, for half a second, before his instincts kicked in. He blindly reached for his sword, where he left it on the nightstand, and swiped at the thing, making sure not to hit Oliver as well.

Thankfully, the ghost thing quickly disappeared in a pile of dust, and Felicity stopped screaming.

Oliver rolled off her with a grunt, lying down on his back next to her, in a pile of monster ashes.

‘What was that thing?’, Digg asked.

‘No idea’, Oliver breathed out. ‘Thanks, Digg.’

‘Don’t mention it.’

They were all silent for a couple of long moments, until Felicity and Oliver’s breathing evened out.

‘What in Hades were you thinking?’, Felicity asked, slowly, her voice shaking.

‘I had to protect you’, Oliver answered after a beat, his voice unnaturally low.

‘Your bow was right there’, Felicity breathed out. ‘At the end of your bed. You should have reached for it, not…’

She didn’t finish that thought, but Digg assumed what Oliver did. Upon seeing the ghost, he must have dragged Felicity out of bed and shielded her with his body, instead of fighting the monster.

‘We need to leave’, Felicity took a deep breath. ‘It’s not safe here anymore.’

‘Leave in the middle of the night?’, Oliver questioned, hesitance clear.

‘We can get a rental car online’, Felicity said.

‘Okay’, Oliver said, sitting up and heading towards the bathroom.

Felicity didn’t get up from the ground.

‘Are you all right?’, Digg asked as softly as he could.

‘He wasn’t thinking straight’, Felicity breathed out, which wasn’t an answer, but Digg let her be.

 

**D I G G**

Once in the car, Felicity went to sleep in the backseat and Oliver joined him in the front. They were silent for the rest of the night, and Felicity slept right through it.

They stopped for gas and coffee in the morning, and Oliver took up driving. Digg let Felicity shotgun, and he got as comfortable as he could in the back. It took a while for him to fall asleep, and Oliver and Felicity didn’t exchange one word in the mean time.

 

**F E L I C I T Y**

‘I’m not mad’, she started by saying after she was sure Digg was asleep.

Oliver didn’t say anything, but she could see his fingers tightening around the steering wheel.

‘Really, I’m not’, she insisted. ‘Thank you for protecting me, I am very grateful for it. But Oliver, that can’t happen again.’

‘Why?’, he didn’t look at her.

‘Your first instinct should be to kill the monsters’, Felicity turned around in the seat as much as she could, so she could see Oliver properly.

‘You’re strong’, she went on, ‘and the best archer on Camp, even Frank says so. I’m certain you would’ve had absolutely no problem in dealing with that thing.’

Oliver still didn’t say anything.

‘I…’, Felicity tried, but had to take a deep breath before speaking before. ‘I’m not helpless, okay? I may not be as strong as you, or as tall as you, and I might not fight as well as you, but I can take care of myself. I’ll probably scream right through it, but I’ll protect myself.’

‘I know’, Oliver sighed, ‘but I just-‘

‘You don’t know’, Felicity interrupted him. ‘You had no idea who I was before this, so you have no idea what I’m capable of. It’s understandable, but next time, you’ll have to trust me to take care of myself.’

Oliver sighed, but didn’t say anything for a long while. 20 miles, to be exact. Felicity tried her best not to seem as anxious as she really was.

‘What did your mother tell you?’, he finally asked, startling Felicity.

‘Not much’, she answered, thinking about how she should’ve expected the question. ‘She said that a quest will fall upon us, that you will be the one to lead it, and that I must be by your side.’

‘That’s it?’

‘She encouraged me, somewhat’, Felicity amended. ‘Said that I was stronger than I looked.’

‘I’m kinda jealous’, Oliver said, once again surprising Felicity. ‘At least you got to see your mom. My dad went and spoke to Chiron.’

She didn’t have an answer for that, so she said nothing.

‘I’ll do better next time’, Oliver said next, and the conviction in it made Felicity smile.

 

**F E L I C I T Y**

When Digg woke up, they stopped for gas again, and Felicity stocked up on junk food and coffee.

She doesn’t know how it happened, but they started talking about the people back at camp.

Felicity talked about how Barry was the one to bring her in, and she was surprised to find out that Oliver got brought in by Barry as well.

She was just about to ask Digg’s story, when her phone started ringing.

‘Hey, Annabeth’, she picked up.

‘Don’t go through Italy.’, the other girl said, urgently. ‘I just spoke with Reyna, at Camp Jupiter, and something’s happening now in Italy. Just don’t go through it, don’t even get close to the borders.’

‘Okay’, Felicity frowned. ‘We can do that.’, she wordlessly reprogrammed the GPS. ‘But uh what’s happening?’

‘I don’t know exactly’, Annabeth said, ‘Reyna was too busy to explain.’

‘Whatever’, Felicity shook her head. ‘Thanks for letting us know.’

‘How are you?’

‘Driving. Well, Oliver’s driving right now. We’re okay, Annabeth. We tried sleeping at a hotel but we got attacked by… a ghost type of thing, I don’t know what it was.’

‘Are you hurt?’, there was something close to desperation in her voice, and it made Felicity smile.

‘No, Digg killed the thing while Oliver was protecting me.’

‘That’s…’, Annabeth hesitated. ‘That’s good, but I don’t like your tone.’

Felicity was always surprised by how well Annabeth could read her. She got used to it, since summer started, but it still surprised her.

‘Would you say’, Felicity chose her words carefully, ‘that when on a quest, there needs to be a certain amount of trust involved?’

‘Of course’, Annabeth didn’t hesitate, and judging by Oliver’s scowl, he heard her.

‘What about feedback?’, Felicity went on.

‘It doesn’t hurt. But boys aren’t too fond of it.’

That sent both of the girls in a fit of giggles, which were interrupted rudely by Will, who probably took the phone from Annabeth.

‘How’s my favorite brother doing?’

Felicity snorted, putting the phone on speaker. ‘I wasn’t aware Oliver was your favorite brother.’

Oliver didn’t say anything, but he raised a confused eyebrow.

‘He’s my favorite brother right now’, Will said, ‘cause he’s the only one not here.’

There was a beat of silence.

‘That’s horrible, Will’, Oliver deadpanned, and Felicity bit on her lower lip to keep from laughing.

‘So you’re good, okay’, Will said in response. ‘Felicity, Barry’s going crazy.  You should call, or text, or snapchat, something, anything, because I can hear him whining from the Apollo table.’

‘I’ll do that’, Felicity grinned. ‘You guys take care, okay? Thanks for calling.’

‘Stay safe’, Will safe, and they all heard Annabeth yell a ‘Bye’ in the background, before the line went dead.

Felicity had a grin on her face and she fully intended to text Barry immediately, but she was rudely interrupted by giant snake wrapping itself around the car and lifting it off the road.

 

**F E L I C I T Y**

Looking back to it, Felicity’s idea was absolutely crazy. But while the boys were busy fighting the giant snake, she couldn’t think of anything else.

So she grabbed a vial from her bag and, despite Oliver’s orders, she ran out of the car, yelling like a madwoman.

Of course, that got the snake’s attention, and it was quick to throw Oliver and Digg away from it, and start slithering towards Felicity.

Once she was at a safe enough distance from the car and the boys, Felicity threw the vial as hard as she could. It hit the snake straight between the eyes, the Greek fire exploding and enveloping the serpent quickly.

She did try to shield her face from the fire, but that’s about all she managed to do. Felicity felt a sharp pain all over her body, before darkness took over.


	25. Quest to Delphi: PART II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> continuation of yesterday's Percy Jackson AU

** **

 

**O L I V E R**

He’d never admit it out loud, but Oliver has never in his life screamed as badly as he did when he saw Felicity go up in flames.

He was also incredibly stupid, his instinct being to run to her side. Thankfully, Digg stopped him before he could catch fire too. That’s when his brain kicked back in, and Oliver dropped to the ground, as close as he could get to Felicity without actually touching her.

The son of Apollo said a quick but desperate prayer to his father, before he started singing the first hymn Will ever taught him. Thankfully, it worked, and the Greek fire quickly died.

Oliver felt like screaming again, now that he could clearly see Felicity.

Her legs and lower abdomen were completely covered in severe burn marks, and her arms too, from where she shielded her face. That was a smart thing to do, because her face was unscorched.

Oliver vaguely heard Digg swore and say that he’ll get the med kit, but he was already cataloguing all the healing hymns he knew.

As a son of Apollo, he was supposed to be good at healing. All of his siblings learned how to heal bones and bleeding wounds and so on, but Oliver was never very good at it. His gifts from Apollo laid elsewhere, in his bow and arrows.

Still, Will made sure to not leave him without medical training. He focused on teaching Oliver the basic mortal ways, to use in an emergency. He also gave him a lot of documents to read, about the benefits of ambrosia and nectar, and the different ways they could be used. Will also taught Oliver a few hymns. The Greek came easily to Oliver, and even though the hymns were basic, he managed to make them work when needed.

So when Digg came back with the med kit, the first thing they did was to take off Felicity’s ruined clothes. She’ll hate them for it when she’ll wake up, but there was no other way.

Then, Oliver and Digg carefully wrapped all the burnt skin on Felicity’s body in bandages soaked in nectar. All the while, Oliver kept singing. The same hymn, over and over again, that was supposed to make any sort of healing happen faster.

He supposed it was working, because he was feeling a very weird tingling sensation go through his entire body, and every time his hands touched Felicity’s body, they glowed. Bright, like the sun. Oliver didn’t have the luxury to think about what it meant.

When they were done, Oliver didn’t even ask Digg’s opinion. Thankfully, the car didn’t sustain a lot of damage, so they could still use it. So Oliver wordlessly sat in the back of it with Felicity sleeping in his lap.

 

**O L I V E R**

Digg was silent for a couple of long hours. Oliver didn’t sleep, he just alternated between praying to his father, singing the hymns and pouring more nectar over Felicity’s bandages or down her throat.

When John did speak, his question came out of nowhere.

‘How come you care about her this much? You just met her two days ago.’

Oliver couldn’t really answer, but yes, he realized that John was right.

He cared about Felicity a lot. It wasn’t just the fact that she was beautiful, or the fact that he had to protect her because he was a bit older, more experienced and in charge of the quest.

No, it was about the way Oliver didn’t want to disappoint her again. It was about the new feeling he felt when he saw her burn, the desperate feeling of anguish, like he was never going to be happy ever again.

‘I don’t know.’, he finally said. It wasn’t an answer, not even close, but he knew John well enough to realize that he took it as one, anyway.

 

**D I G G**

Felicity slept for 15 hours, time in which Oliver and Digg took turns driving and taking care of her. But she seemed to be doing well, the burns healing surprisingly fast.

When she woke up, Digg was driving and Oliver was in the back with her.

Felicity screamed and sat up quickly, trashing around. Oliver had to call her name three times before she realized that she was safe.

While Digg parked the car on the side of her road, Felicity collapsed against Oliver’s chest, and he instantly wrapped his hands around her.

She cried for a while, sobbed against Oliver’s chest, while he sang one of his hymns, for giving her strength. Digg would have left them alone, given them some privacy, but Oliver kicked the back of his seat when he reached for the door handle, so John stayed where he was.

He’d never admit out loud, but he was mesmerized watching Oliver. Because never, in the three years they’ve known each other, never has Oliver Queen shown such emotion.

Sure, he nearly went crazy when Felicity caught fire, he screamed Digg’s ears out. But this, this was different. There were tears in his eyes, but that wasn’t even half of the way Oliver’s emotions shocked Digg into utter and complete silence.

When Felicity calmed down, she didn’t push Oliver away. She remained in his arms, and she just looked at him, as he finished singing.

John couldn’t see her face, but he could see that she was still shaking, and she was wiping her face on the blanket they used to cover her.

‘That was stupid’, Oliver said when he finished singing, his voice breaking on the last word. ‘Don’t do it again.’ 

‘You saved me’, Digg barely heard her.

‘There were a lot of burns.’, he could see the pain in Oliver’s eyes, the guilt he was sure his best friend felt. ‘I tried my best.’

At that, Felicity looked down. She slowly detangled herself from Oliver’s hold, but Digg noticed that she still sat close to him on the back seat. She then took a few minutes to take off the bandages and run her hands over what was left of the burns, but judging from Oliver’s face, it was a very good outcome.

John expected her to comment on the fact that she was just in her black underwear and bright pink bra, but she never did. She didn’t even blush, and John knew it had a lot to do with the fact that they saved her and treated her. But he couldn’t help but feel glad that she was comfortable around them.

Friendship comes in different levels, he knew this. And he realized that Felicity just upgraded their friendship.

‘We’re just a couple of hours out of Delphi’, Digg decided on saying. ‘We should rest for a while before going in.’

‘We can’t go to a hotel’, Felicity said. ‘Not after what happened last time. But… we’re in Greece. Nowhere’s going to be safe.’

‘Let’s find high ground.’, Oliver said. ‘That way, we’ll see if anything comes our way.’

Digg snorted. ‘You mean you’ll shoot at ‘em before they get close.’

‘That too’, Oliver grinned, and even Felicity smiled.

John was thankful their morale was up. They’re going to need it.

 

**D  I G G**

Felicity used her phone to find an abandoned building in the closest town. Digg didn’t ask how she did it, but he was impressed.

As Oliver said, they made camp on the roof. Digg volunteered to take first watch, just to give Oliver some time to fuss over Felicity some more.

He cleaned what was left of her wounds, with human medicine this time, and after he forced Felicity to eat a couple of sandwiches, he also made her eat some ambrosia. All the while, Oliver stoically ignored her protesting.

Digg kept walking around the perimeter of the roof, avoiding looking at where his friends slept, and when he didn’t hear any sounds for a couple of minutes, he thought they fell asleep.

But then, Oliver started singing. It was a different hymn than any of the ones he sang before, and when Digg looked, his hands were glowing brighter than ever.

He was sitting crosslegged next to where Felicity was lying down, and they were holding hands. When Digg saw the look of complete adoration Felicity was supporting, he turned back around.

Still, he heard them, the roof wasn’t that big.

‘You saved me again’, Felicity said, and Oliver answered quickly.

‘I really wish I wasn’t put in the position to need to save you.’

Felicity laughed at that, a bit. ‘I’m starting to think my mom was wrong. I’ve been more of a burden on this quest than any help.’

‘No’, Oliver said, and the strength of it surprised even Digg. ‘No, I’m… really glad you came with us, Felicity.’

‘I just hope we’ll defeat it tomorrow.’, she said, her voice lowering its strength, and Digg could hear that there was some moving around.

‘What’s it?’, Oliver asked, and for some reason, he was smiling, Digg could hear it in his voice.

‘We don’t know what’, Felicity mumbled, she was probably falling asleep. ‘But you’ll kick its ass, and I’ll stare at your ass.’

Digg _had_ to turn at that.

Felicity was asleep, clearly, her head pushed against Oliver’s arm and both of her hands holding onto Oliver’s, like she was playing with his fingers before she fell asleep. And Oliver, he was looking down at Felicity with the same look of adoration Digg saw on her face a couple of minutes ago.

Tomorrow will be a long day, Digg was sure of it. But the least he could do was give his friends a peaceful night.

 

**D  I G G**

Oliver switched him in the middle of the night, so John was able to get a couple of hours of sleep. He hated mornings, but he actually felt rested, and they didn’t take long to get back on the road, even if they were all silent.

Felicity was the first one to break it, shoving her face between the front seats, from where she was sitting in the back.

‘We should call home. I mean camp.’

She said it with a surprising amount of strength, but Digg still shared a look with Oliver.

‘You want to say goodbye?’, it was Oliver that asked.

‘No’, Felicity looked down, even if they both knew she was lying. ‘But things will probably get… chaotic, so we should just let them know we’ll be going in.’

Digg didn’t say anything, just shrugged, letting Oliver know it was his decision.

‘You should call Nico’, Oliver said after a few beats. ‘He seems the most… ‘

‘Emotionally constipated?’, Felicity offered.

‘I was going to say _calm_ , but sure, let’s go with that.’

Felicity snickered at Oliver’s response, but she did pull out her phone and put it on speaker.

‘What’s wrong?’, is what Nico answered with.

‘How did you know it was me?’, Felicity frowned, making Hades’ son sigh.

‘I don’t know a lot of people, and the ones I know, I already have their phone numbers. So what’s wrong?’

‘Nothing’, Felicity smiled. ‘We’re a couple of hours out of Delphi, we just thought we’d check in.’

There was a pause.

‘You want to say goodbye and you called me?’, Nico scoffed.

‘We’re not saying goodbye’, Felicity said.

‘Well in that case’, Nico gruffly countered, ‘hurry back, will you? I can’t take it anymore.’

‘What’s wrong?’, it was Oliver that asked.

‘You’re all the camp is talking about.’

‘Oh gods’, Digg sighed, and he could tell his partners were both also feeling the dread.

‘Yeah’, Nico went on. ‘And you know me, when things turn awkward, I get as far away from it as possible, with my friends. Well, that doesn’t do much nowadays.’

‘Uhm-‘, Felicity tried, but Nico didn’t let her.

‘My boyfriend won’t stop talking about the three of you, he takes turns praising your skills and Felicity’s heart. Annabeth keeps muttering to herself about how smart Felicity is, about how she’s got this covered. Frank keeps praising Oliver’s archery skills and keeps retelling the story about how Digg defeated him in hand-to-hand that one time.’

‘Did you really?’, Felicity asked, and Digg nodded, while Nico kept talking.

‘Leo, well, I don’t see much of him, cause he’s either in the workshop or in the Big House, pouring over Felicity’s tech work. I’m pretty sure he raided your bunk, by the way, and I’m positive he’s going to … adopt you when you come back. Percy, well, he’s just really freaking sad he doesn’t know any of you. And don’t get me started on that Barry kid, we take turns forcing him to eat and shower.’

Nico sighed, deeply.

‘Chiron is the most normal of them all, because he only asks us if we spoke to you about five times a day. So please hurry up, I’m going crazy here.’

There was a very long pause. Digg had a smirk on his face, he really couldn’t help it. Oliver was frowning deeply, and Felicity… she had tears in her eyes.

‘Oh man’, Digg sighed, ‘you made her cry.’

Nico… made some sort of sound, part wheezing / part groaning, and muttered a very confused ‘I’m sorry.’

‘We never spoke before’, Felicity sniffled. ‘And I’m pretty sure that’s the most words you ever said in a go.’

Nico huffed a breath of air. ‘Well, you’re growing on me.’

‘We’re not even there’, Oliver said, completely confused.

‘Which makes it even more depressing’, Nico all but whined.

Digg laughed, he couldn’t help it, and it made Oliver and Felicity smile too.

‘But seriously now’, Nico said slowly. ‘How are you guys?’

‘Terrified’, Felicity said quickly.

‘Anxious’, Oliver added.

‘Mildly scared’, Digg added.

‘So you’re doing well’, Nico snorted. ‘Look, just… take care, give your best, and please, for the love of all of the gods, call if you need us.’

‘Thank you’, Oliver said, truly meaning it.

‘I’ll see you’, Nico answered, and they all said their goodbyes before a still teary eyed Felicity hung up.

‘Well’, she took a deep breath, ‘I don’t know about you guys, but that made me feel better.’

Oliver took his eyes off the road to look incredulously at her. ‘You’re crying.’

‘Yeah’, Felicity nodded, wiping away at her face. ‘I told you, I’ll probably scream right through it, but I’ll do the thing.’

Digg didn’t understand it, but Oliver smiled as Felicity grinned, so he figured it wasn’t any of his business.

They passed the _5 KM to Delphi_ sign, and they all took a deep breath, completely in sync. They didn’t know what was waiting for them at the temple, but Digg knew that they’ll all throw their best at it.

 

**F E L I C I T Y**

They left the car right at the base of the mountain, grabbing their bags and going into the unknown.

Felicity had to admit, the temple was placed beautifully. On the top of a mountain, surrounded by peaks and so much green trees. The sight of it was breathtaking.

There was a bit of a trek up before them, but Felicity didn’t think it’ll be very hard. After all, this was a very popular tourist sight. There were ticket offices at the base of the mountains, and maps everywhere. However, they were all deserted, and posters were stuck everywhere, warnings about a gas leakage.

‘That’s how they’re keeping mortals away.’, Oliver frowned. ‘But if it’s the Mist, then how are we seeing it?’

‘It must not be the Mist.’, Digg tried.

‘But I feel it’, Oliver insisted. ‘It’s like… all the Aphrodite chicks.’

Felicity couldn’t help but glare.

‘What?’, Oliver said, blushing slightly even if he became visibly defensive. ‘It’s not my fault they keep trying to get in my pants.’

Felicity couldn’t help the angry sound that came out of her throat, but thankfully, neither of the boys mentioned it. Oliver looked down, his cheeks red, while John just smirked at him.

‘Anyway’, Felicity pointedly said. ‘Mist or not, we should head up.’

And up they went. For two days straight.

They only stopped for rest and a couple of hours of sleep, but they didn’t seem to make any progress, no matter how far they walked.

Every time Felicity would look into the horizon, and realize that the scenery changed, when she’d close her eyes things changed, it looked like they were right back to where they started. Sometimes, it seemed they got closer to the temple. Other times, it looked like it was even closer away.

She thought she was going crazy, so she didn’t say anything about it, and the boys didn’t either. But on day two, she decided to check her phone. And that made her stop.

‘Guys’, she hesitantly said. ‘I have this app, that keeps track of our journey using GPS.’

‘So?’, Oliver frowned.

‘So we haven’t moved since we got here’, she turned the phone to face Oliver.

‘What… does that mean?’, he asked slowly.

Felicity put her phone away and did a quick swipe of their location. They were still at the base of the mountain, the temple visible in the distance. The sky was clear, as it always was during the day. But, as it was the day before, there was a single cloud, straight on top of the temple.

She turned back to Oliver, her mind quickly going through different scenarios.

‘Do you still have that … Aphrodite cabin vibe?’

He nodded, slowly.

‘What are you thinking?’, Digg asked, coming to their side and crossing his gigantic hands over his chest.

‘I think’, Felicity said slowly, ‘that someone is manipulating the Mist. It feels like we’re walking, but we’re not making any progress.’

‘So what do we do?’, Oliver asked, and Felicity was a bit thrown away, because he didn’t doubt what she was saying.

‘I can’t manipulate the Mist’, Digg said, and Oliver nodded as well.

‘Me neither’, Felicity said, ‘but we know someone who can.’

Oliver sighed. ‘I don’t know if we should call.’

‘Oliver’, Digg said gruffly before Felicity could even open her mouth. ‘You need to tone back your ego, there are more important things at play here.’

‘It’s not that’, Oliver quickly countered, a slight roll of his eyes. ‘But my father said-‘

‘Apollo knew full well whom he was dealing with’, Felicity interrupted. ‘He knew how smart Annabeth is, and how stubborn the rest of them are.’

Oliver sighed. ‘He probably worded it that way on purpose, didn’t he?’

‘It wouldn’t surprise me’, Felicity shrugged. ‘So can I call for backup?’

It took a few beats, but Oliver nodded. Felicity texted Hazel, assuring her that it wasn’t a life and death situation, but that they needed her help.

They set up camp to wait for her, knowing it will take a while to get to Delphi. But, as the sun set and the first shadows appeared around the trees, Hazel and Nico appeared out of seemingly nowhere.

Felicity shrieked, which she wasn’t very proud of, but she was also quick on her feet, helping Hazel lower Nico to the ground and all but shoving a square of ambrosia down his throat.

‘I’m fine’, he muttered, and the girls rolled their eyes in complete sync, before Felicity made Nico a big cup of instant coffee, and Hazel made his brother eat a couple of sandwiches.

After Nico didn’t look as pale as he did when he shadow traveled there, they all sat around a fire, and Nico and Hazel asked to hear the story about what happened on the quest until they got to Delphi.

Felicity did most of the talking, with Digg expertly stopping her when she babbled too much, and Oliver only opening his mouth when they got to the part when Felicity caught fire.

He didn’t say much, just that it was the worst part of the quest, which, Felicity had to admit, it warmed her heart.

After that, Felicity told them how they kept walking without actually moving and showed them her phone, and she really didn’t like the look on Hazel’s face.

‘You’re right’, the girl said. ‘There’s very strong Mist manipulation here.’

‘Can you help us?’, Felicity asked, and Hazel nodded.

‘We should wait until morning, though.’, Nico said. ‘Whatever is there, it hasn’t attacked you in two days.’

‘I agree’, Oliver said, and that was that.

Digg took first watch, and Felicity fell asleep between Hazel and Oliver, with Nico on his sister’s other side.

 

**F E L I C I T Y**

When it was her turn to keep watch, the sun was just starting to come up.

She was surprised when Nico woke up and came to sit down next to her, but Felicity tried to not let it show.

‘Shouldn’t you be resting some more?’

Nico waved her off. ‘I’m fine, I got stronger over the years.’

Felicity had to smile at his cocky smirk.

‘Plus’, he tilted his head. ‘Dating a son of Apollo means a lot of early mornings.’

She giggled at that. They were silent for a few more minutes, just watching the sun come up over the mountains.

‘I can’t believe this is happening’, Felicity admitted, making Nico turn to her with a frown.

‘That I’m here.’, she explained. ‘That Oliver saved my life twice in the past days, that Digg saved both of us, that you’re here, talking to me, that-‘

She stopped when Nico put a hand on her knee.

‘Sorry’, Felicity sighed. ‘This is just insane. I don’t know what my mother was thinking.’

‘She must have been thinking something’, Nico raised an eyebrow. ‘Athena does a lot of thinking, you know.’

Felicity snorted at that, despite herself.

Nico frowned next, pulling his hand away and looking back into the distance.

‘I’m not good with people.’, he lowered his voice even more. ‘Or pep talks, for that matter. But if I’ve ever learned something, it’s that things aren’t always as impossible as they seem. If Athena thought you can do this, then I’m sure you’ll easily fly past it.’

‘Who are you and what have you done to my brother?’, a voice said from behind them, and when Felicity turned, Hazel was looking down at them with a playful smirk.

‘Shut up’, Nico mumbled. ‘Will keeps calling her _Miss Sunshine_ , he’s right.’

Felicity blushed deeply at that, and the other two half-bloods laughed, effectively waking Oliver and Digg up too.

 

**F E L I C I T Y**

It didn’t take long for Hazel to work the Mist around them, dispersing it completely. Felicity couldn’t see anything up on the mountain, but truthfully, she was too busy staring to the side of the road.

Her mother stood there, her arms crossed over her chest, with a younger looking man by her side. Judging by the way he was gorgeous and looked very similar to Will, Felicity assumed that was Apollo.

‘Let’s go’, Nico said, and Felicity saw Athena shake her head.

‘No’, Felicity breathed out, making everybody else stop.

She heard Oliver gasp slightly, and when she turned, he was also staring at their parents. But he was the only one. Nico frowned in their direction, but his eyes didn’t focus.

‘We have to do this alone’, Oliver sighed.

‘That’s not-‘, Hazel tried, but Felicity cut her off.

‘Yes it is. Our parents were clear on their wishes. You… You guys should wait for us down here.’

Nico groaned, clearly frustrated.

‘Please’, Felicity added, turning to look at him. It took a while, but Nico finally nodded.

‘You’ll call.’, he all but growled at her, but Felicity wasn’t fazed.

‘If we need it’, Oliver said, and the two boys shared a look.

‘Thank you’, Felicity felt the need to say to Hazel, before the other girl swept her up in a surprising hug.

They left Hazel and Nico behind, and when Felicity felt Oliver’s fingers wrapping around hers, she picked up her pace.

 

**O L I V E R**

He didn’t know what he expected to find when they got to the temple of Apollo in Delphi. But it definitely wasn’t this.

There was a gym. A very well equipped gym, different workout machines scattered around the ruins.

And in the middle of them, there was a massive guy, older than Oliver, but not by much. Tall and very well built, wearing workout clothes and his long black hair was kept in a high pony tail. He was doing yoga on a mat, and sweating profusely.

Even though Felicity and Digg had their swards drawn and Oliver had an arrow knocked in his bow, when the guy saw them, he just groaned.

‘Oh man’, he whined, ‘how did you get here? You were supposed to be walking for all eternity.’

Felicity was the only one who found it in her to ask a very confused ‘what?’

‘I learned my lesson, man’, the guy said, getting up from the mats and slowly making his way towards them. ‘Deceiving the gods is bad and it’ll only bring you an eternity pushing boulders up a hill.’

‘Sisyphus’, Felicity breathed out, making the guy wink at her.

‘At your service’.

Oliver remembered the story, barely. Sisyphus was the king of Corinth, and he betrayed Zeus’ trust, somehow. For it, he was punished with having to roll a very heavy rock up a hill, but Zeus enchanted it. Every time Sisyphus got to the top of the hill, the boulder would roll back down, so he had to do it all again. For eternity.

‘So, my dears’, Sisyphus smiled at them all, ‘I am sorry for this, but I’m going to need you to go back down. And uh come back up.’, he winked at Felicity and it made Oliver sick to his stomach.

‘Has Zeus released you from your punishment?’, Felicity asked him, slowly lowering her sword. Digg and Oliver did no such thing.

Sisyphus snorted. ‘Neah, he never does that, does he? No, let’s just say that… with everything that’s been happening these past years, with Kronos and Gaia, he’s too busy to keep an eye out for me.’

‘So you…’, Felicity frowned.

‘Learned how to manipulate the Mist’, Sisyphus grinned, very proud of himself. ‘So now, I can make other people fulfill my punishment for me! How cool am I?’

Felicity gulped. ‘Very cool, indeed. But we didn’t push any rock up a hill.’

Sisyphus waved it off. ‘Oh, the rock was just a metaphor. The point of the punishment was for me to do something useless for eternity. And walking without reaching your destination, that’s pretty useless, right? Honestly, you guys should be thankful I gave up on the rock.’

‘And’, Felicity quickly interrupted his rand. ‘Why are you in Delphi?’

Sisyphus’ expression changed into a cold one. ‘All my troubles started here.’

‘And we are sorry for that’, Felicity nodded, faking a sympathetic tone. ‘But we need you to go. Please.’

Sisyphus just raised an eyebrow. ‘And why is that?’

‘You being here is disrupting the gift of prophesies’, Felicity explained.

‘Well, d’uh’, Sisyphus rolled his eyes. ‘That is the point of it all. Prophesies are evil, man. You’re all better off without them.’

He sharply turned to look at Oliver.

‘No matter what your father says.’

Oliver’s aim didn’t falter, even if Sisyphus completely ignored the arrow pointed at his head.

‘Now, you guys’, Sisyphus’ expression changed again, into a cheery one, ‘run along back down, will you? Let me have a day or two, to uh… think. Yeah, I’ll think about it, promise. Go back to the base of the mountain, and come back in a day or two, ask me again.’

‘We’ll never make it back up’, Digg said, and Oliver agreed with him.

So did Felicity, apparently, because she raised her sword once more, twirling it twice for effect.

‘We can’t let you stay here.’, Oliver said in the strongest voice he could manage.

‘So we’re fighting?’, Sisyphus asked, oddly delighted.

‘You bet your ass we’re fighting’, Digg said, and at that, they charged.

 

**O L I V E R**

This guy was ruthless. Sisyphus pulled a sword out of nowhere, and he fought like a mad man.

Even though they were three against one, they were losing.

When Digg was fighting him, Sisyphus made sure to push Felicity away. And when Felicity had her sword up, Sisyphus made sure to kick Digg back.

All the while, Oliver stood a few paces back, shooting arrow after arrow. The ones that connected with Sisyphus’ body, he didn’t seem to be affected by them. He plucked them out without flinching and threw them away. But when Oliver shot at Sisyphus’ head, the arrows would just fall a foot away from their target.

At one point, Digg took a blow to the head. He fell to the ground, groaning in pain. He was alive, Oliver saw it clearly, and he didn’t even black out, but he was disoriented.

So Oliver put his bow on his back and rushed to his side. He pulled Digg a few steps away from Sisyphus and grabbed his sword.

When he turned around, Felicity was fighting with Sisyphus. Oliver had to pause for a second, because it was quite the sight.

Her once white shorts were dirty now, the same color as the dust that seemed to be everywhere on Delphi. Her pink tank top was shredded in a few places. She had cuts all over her body, and dirt everywhere. Her hair was half out of the pony tail it was up.

She was crying, visibly, but she was also holding her own against Sisyphus. Her movements with the sword were practiced and they flowed easily, but it was clear that Sisyphus was a lot stronger than her, physically.

So Oliver ran to her.

They fought together for a while, both of their swords going against Sisyphus. They didn’t need to talk, Oliver was surprised to realize. Somehow, he knew what Felicity was thinking and he always moved to accommodate her. And somehow, Felicity knew what Oliver wanted to do and either helped, either moved out of his way. Gods, they were trained well, even if they never trained together.

For the first time, Oliver saw Sisyphus’ confidence falter. He fought with a grin on his face until now. Now, there was a frown between his brows and Oliver could see frustration rising in his eyes.

In the back of his mind, Oliver realized that the sound of Digg barfing meant that he had a pretty bad concussion.

And he also realized that Felicity’s body kept trembling harder and harder, which meant that her strengths were leaving her.

Oliver also realized they had no chance to defeat Sisyphus. Not like this.

The distraction of his realization gave Sisyphus an opening and his blade slashed Felicity’s abdomen. She yelled in agony, and the sound cut straight through Oliver’s heart.

Sisyphus effortlessly picked Felicity up and threw her away. She landed on some rocks, and Oliver saw blood pouring on them, and he heard her scream, and he didn’t even think before running to her side.

Sisyphus started laughing. ‘Oh, isn’t this sweet? Young love. Oh, man, give it a rest. Love sucks. I should know, my wife waited for me to die before screwing me over.’

Oliver ignored him, his hands running over Felicity’s body, applying pressure on her abdomen and moving her until she was lying somewhat comfortably on the ground.

She was crying, hysterically so, and her breathing was labored.

But she stopped, grabbing a hold of his wrist.

‘Our parents can’t help us’, she wheezed out, and Oliver nodded, even though he was confused.

‘They’re not the only gods invested in this’, she said strongly, her eyes skipping to the place where Digg was now unconscious.

In awe of her, Oliver understood what Felicity was saying. He understood what he had to do.

While Apollo and Athena couldn’t help them, Ares made no point in involving himself in this quest.

Digg volunteered for it. But Digg was Ares’ son. Maybe…

‘Do it’, Felicity’s voice interrupted him. Her hand crept up on his neck, and even if he could feel it slick because of the blood, her touch sent shivers down Oliver’s body. She gave his neck a gentle squeeze, before her hand fell on his quiver strap. Felicity gave it two taps, before she said ‘Go’ one more time.

With a new found confidence, Oliver stood up and faced Sisyphus.

He was still laughing, looking at him in pity.

‘What are you gonna do, lover boy?’, Sisyphus raised an eyebrow, as Oliver grabbed his bow.

Sisyphus didn’t move to attack again, which will prove to be his mistake. He let Oliver knock an arrow in his bow, let him aim it, and gave him enough time to pray.

But Oliver didn’t pray to his father, like he usually did.

Instead, Oliver prayed to Digg’s father. He prayed to Ares, the god of war, to grant him strength to defeat his enemy.

Oliver poured everything he had into the prayer. The will to not disappoint, the exhaustion he felt in his arms, the blood on his hands. The anger he felt towards Sisyphus, the love he felt for Digg and Felicity. The debt he will always have to Digg, who volunteered to join him in battle.

The desperate need to win. To overpower Sisyphus.

Oliver felt a presence by his back, but he didn’t turn to look. He knew it was Ares, he could feel the gods’ power.

And then, he felt that power running through his veins. Oliver smirked.

Sisyphus must have felt something too, because he stopped laughing. He raised his sword, but it was too late, Oliver already let go of the arrow.

It pierced Sisyphus straight between the eyes, and he fell to the ground without making any sort of noise, except for a dull thud in the dust.

Oliver turned around, but he didn’t see Ares. He still thanked him, in his head, before rushing back to Felicity’s side.

She was still crying, her hands over the slash on her abdomen, but she was also smiling.

‘You did it’, she breathed out, and Oliver found himself crying.

But he ignored it.

He wrapped his hands around Felicity, bringing her as close as he could, and he fully intended to start singing the healing hymn that worked on her before.

A hand on his shoulder startled Oliver, and when he looked up, his father was smiling at him.

‘I got her, kid.’, Apollo said softly. ‘I’ll get her to Will.’

‘John too’, Oliver said, and his father nodded easily.

Only then did Oliver notice that Athena was there as well.

‘I’ll get the rest of them home’, she said to Apollo, who nodded briefly before disappearing in a flash of light, taking Felicity and John with him.

‘Nico and Hazel are at the bottom of the mountain’, Oliver said, wiping away at his face.

Athena didn’t say anything, but she nodded and walked away. Oliver scrambled to gather up their weapons, and rushed to follow her.

It was weird, walking down from Delphi with Athena by his side.

She was incredibly beautiful, glowing in the light, and there wasn’t one bead of dust on her white gown.

Oliver was covered in dust, his clothes were thoroughly cut through, and he was dripping blood. Some of it was Felicity’s, and it made him flinch.

‘She’ll be alright’, Athena said, as if reading his thoughts. ‘She’s stronger than she looks.’

‘I know that now’, Oliver sighed, and Athena spared a glance at him, with a raised eyebrow.

‘I wasn’t a fan of Percy’, she said, making Oliver very confused. ‘Mostly because he is his father’s son, but also because of the way he is.’

‘I don’t know him that well’, Oliver diplomatically said.

Athena hummed. ‘I was disappointed in Annabeth, in the love she had for him.’

 _Oh_ , Oliver thought, finally understanding what she was talking about.

‘But’, Athena went on, ‘I am no fool. And Percy proved himself worthy, so has Annabeth.’

Oliver looked right ahead, still confused over why this conversation was happening. He saw Nico and Hazel running towards them.

‘Are you worthy?’, Athena asked, and Oliver took a while to just think that through.

It hit him just as Nico and Hazel got to their side.

‘Please tell me’, Oliver breathed out, ‘that you didn’t send Felicity on this dangerous quest just to hook her up.’

Hazel yelped, covering her mouth soon after, and Nico made a half-hearted attempt to pull Oliver away from Athena.

But the goddess just narrowed her eyes at him. ‘Of course not, you two would have…’, her eyes twitched, ‘hooked up even without this quest. I sent her on this quest because I needed you to prove yourself.’

‘I would’ve proven myself’, Oliver angrily bit out, ‘even without Felicity bleeding in my arms.’

Athena raised an eyebrow. ‘Are you sure? Because I think Felicity brought out the very best in you.’

Oliver opened his mouth, but shut it quickly, because Athena was right. He lowered his eyes, and the goddess didn’t say anything else.

‘Is Felicity dead?’, Hazel whispered, and Oliver’s eyes snapped up to her.

‘Did you feel her die?’, he asked, a lot of desperation seeping through.

‘No’, Nico assured him, ‘but you said she was bleeding.’

‘She was hurt’, Athena answered before Oliver got to. ‘Apollo took her and Ares’ son back to Camp, and I shall take you now.’

‘Thank you’, Oliver had the decency to say.

Athena shook her head at him, even if there was a barely there smirk on her lips.

‘Zeus forbid us to help you on your way, because he wanted this quest to be Apollo’s redemption. Now that you have succeeded, your Oracle will gain the gift of prophecy back.’ She sighed, deeply. ‘And Delphi will be back on the tourist map.’

‘Why did he chose me?’, Oliver couldn’t help but ask.

Surprisingly, Athena looked to Nico.

‘Will Solace was his first choice, but Aphrodite convinced him the boy was far too needed at Camp.’

Nico blushed furiously at that, as his sister started laughing.

Athena turned back to Oliver.

‘Don’t let that get to you, Oliver. You’re a strong half-blood, and your father is very proud of you.’

‘So are we’, Hazel said, smiling brightly at him.

Oliver sighed, finally feeling the exhaustion of the fight catching up to him. Athena nodded at him, and a bright like took over Oliver, forcing him to close his eyes.

When he felt a gust of wind hitting his face, he opened his eyes and found himself on top of Half-Blood Hill. Athena was nowhere in sight, and Oliver barely spared a glance at Hazel and Nico before he started running to the infirmary.

 

**D I G G**

Digg wasn’t surprised by the look of desperation that was etched on Oliver’s face when he stepped into the infirmary. And sure enough, he ran straight to Felicity’s side.

‘She’ll be okay’, Will told him quickly. ‘We need to let the nectar and ambrosia do their thing, and I put her to sleep through the pain.’

Oliver sighed in relief, and Will took the opportunity to steer him to a nearby bed. He tried protesting, but a stern look from Will made Oliver lie down and he let the doctor patch him up.

‘So’, Digg said. ‘I heard Dad helped you out.’

‘Yeah’, Oliver said, clearly exhausted. ‘It was Felicity’s idea.’

‘Of course it was’, Digg couldn’t help but snort. ‘Told you she was too smart for you’.

Oliver took the teasing in pride. Meaning, he completely ignored it.

‘Her mom’s scary’, is what he said next, and Digg was very interested in hearing that story.

Later, though, because Will put Oliver to sleep just as Nico and Hazel came to the infirmary.

‘You guys okay?’, Will asked, and they both nodded.

Nico put a hand around Will’s shoulders, even if Digg has never seen him display his affection so openly.

‘You guys’, Nico told him, ‘are badass.’

Digg grinned. ‘Damn right.’

‘Come on’, Will rolled his eyes. ‘Your turn to go to sleep.’

John didn’t object, he was absolutely exhausted.

 

**D I G G**

When he woke up, it was to the sight of Oliver hugging Felicity tightly. Her nose was pushed into the crook of his neck, and her hands were fisted tightly into the back of his shirt.

Oliver was breathing in very slowly, his face buried in her hair, and Digg felt like he was intruding.

Will, however, didn’t, considering he came to let them know that Chiron was waiting for them in the dining pavilion.

Digg noticed the way Felicity and Oliver were walking way too close to each other, their shoulders brushing with every step, but he decided not to mention it. He also ignored how Oliver was the one to grab a hold of her hand.

When they stepped into the pavilion, everybody started cheering and clapping. Barry and Annabeth both got up and starting running towards them, but she got there first, quickly wrapping Felicity in a big hug. Barry hugged Oliver, but Digg knew he was just waiting for Annabeth to let go of his best friend.

Meanwhile, Clarisse made her way to his side, and playfully hit his shoulder.

‘Good job, bro.’, was all she said, but John knew it was the best he would get out of her.

Chiron guided them to tables, and asked of them to tell the story. This was new, for camp. From what Digg gathered, quests weren’t usually talked about with the entire camp around.

But Felicity started talking nonetheless. And when she got to the part where Sisyphus took her out, Oliver took over.

Digg had to admit, he was a bit jealous that he was unconscious when the gods came. But he could see something in Oliver’s eyes, he knew he was hiding something about his conversation with Athena. The way Nico kept smirking at Felicity and Oliver only strengthened Digg’s opinion.

‘Congratulations, heroes!’, Chiron’s loud voice bloomed over the entire hall. ‘Even though Rachel has not spoken any prophesies yet, she assures me that she feels her power coming back. It won’t be long now until quests will fully return to Camp Half-Blood!’

The kids cheered at that, but Digg didn’t. Quests weren’t fun. He understood the need for them, but he didn’t like it.

‘But, for tonight, we feast and we party!’, Chiron said, and everybody cheered at that, Digg included.

 

**O L I V E R**

Felicity didn’t leave his side for the rest of the evening, and Oliver was thankful. It was easier for him to take all the claps on the back and the congratulations, when Felicity’s hand was in his.

He was exhausted by the time the campers started going to bed, but at the same time, Oliver didn’t want to spend one minute away from Felicity.

She must have felt the same way, because she took his hand and winked at him, before guiding him towards the deserted pier.

They took off their shoes and let their feet down in the lake, and Felicity snuggled up to him. Oliver hesitantly wrapped a hand around her shoulders, and she didn’t protest, instead she sighed in contempt.

‘What did mom tell you?’, she asked after a while, and Oliver gulped.

‘I don’t know if I should tell you.’

Felicity pushed away, slightly, just so she could glare at him.

‘We’ve talked about trust, Oliver.’

‘But we’re not on the quest anymore.’, he pointed out, to which she rolled her eyes.

‘Are you seriously telling me _we_ ’re going to end after this quest?’

Oliver blushed, he knew he did, but he also knew he would go to the ends of Tartarus for Felicity.

So he took a deep breath, and told Felicity everything her mother told him.

By the end of it, Oliver felt oddly out of breath, his face was on fire, and Felicity was equally red, blinking rapidly.

‘Oh my gods’, she breathed out.

Then, she pushed Oliver. It caught him off guard, so he yelped and ended up lying on his back on the cold pier.

But then, Felicity rolled on top of him, and all of Oliver’s breath left him.

He stared into her eyes, which were sparkling with excitement; he looked at her bright pink lips which were grinning wildly. And he shivered when he felt Felicity’s fingers running over his jaw. She was warm, her entire body plastered against his and Oliver felt like he was going to explode.

She didn’t say anything before leaning down and kissing him.

At that point, Oliver couldn’t care less. About Apollo or Athena, about prophecies or quests, about the Camp or the fact that he was leaving it in a week.

Instead, Oliver only cared about the way Felicity’s skin felt under his fingertips, the way she groaned when he scratched her back, the way her tongue was frantically moving against his and the way she kept giggling against his lips.

And then, they were wet.

Soaked in cold water.

Oliver wildly looked around, seeking an enemy, but only finding Percy.

He stood at the edge of the pier, his hands outstretched to his side, an idiotic grin on his face, a huge wave of lake water still raised.

‘Keep it clean, lovebirds.’, Percy yelled at them. ‘You've got curfew in 5 minutes.’

Felicity muttered something that sounded suspiciously like ‘suck my dick, Jackson’.

Oliver blinked at her, waiting until her eyes met his. Then, he grinned, before giving her a short sweet kiss, which Felicity hummed into.

Then, he got up, picked up a stray sword, and started running after Percy. Even through Jackson’s yells and pleas to stop, Oliver could still hear Felicity’s laughter.

He was late for curfew, but that was okay, because Percy was covered in orange juice and Felicity playfully slapped Oliver’s ass while she was kissing him goodnight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS HAS BEEN SUCH A WILD RIDE  
> I wrote this in two days, because I just **needed** to get it out of my system. Really, I enjoyed writing this a whole lot. And I like how it turned out. I like it a lot. 
> 
> And you guys seem to enjoy it as much as I do. Thanks a whole lot, guys. A whole whole lot. Hope I managed to end it well. Hng. Hugs, babes. Hugs and kisses.


	26. The Couples

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Olicity and five other pairs.

**→One:  Iris and Barry**

Iris was really bad at hiding her infatuation with Oliver. Barry wasn’t mad, though, he could relate. He was just the same before he got to know Oliver, even worse before he knew Oliver was the Arrow.

And, really, Barry’s relationship with Iris was the strongest thing in their life. He didn’t feel threatened by Oliver. Especially not when he saw him with Felicity.

Barry was so happy for them. And they were happy, Barry could see it in their eyes, every time they were in the same room. And it wasn’t just the spark in their looks, but their smiles, the way they casually touched each other, without any point in it, Barry was almost sure they weren’t even aware they were doing it.

Oliver and Felicity were a ridiculous couple. Everyone knew how long it took for them to get here, how much they’ve been through and how much they’ve sacrificed. And everybody knew how much they loved each other. But they were ridiculous.

Right now, they were in the Cortex, speaking with Caitlin, trying to develop a plan to catch the metahuman they were currently after. But Caitlin wasn’t talking, she never got the chance to. Felicity and Oliver were brainstorming, by the looks of it, but Barry couldn’t really keep up with what they were saying.

Oliver didn’t even get to finish explaining an idea, before Felicity started turning it down, saying why it wasn’t a good one. And then Oliver would get pissed off, and he tried to convince her, but once again, Felicity would cut him off, more sternly than before.

Then Oliver would pout, and Felicity would tell him something cute and adorable, and he’d shoot her this look, this very particular look Oliver always got around his girlfriend, this fond and exasperated look, and Felicity would giggle and give him a quick kiss.

And after that, Oliver would get another idea and they’d repeat the process.

Caitlin tried to interrupt. Repeatedly. Unsuccessfully.

‘Are we that sickening?’, Iris came by Barry’s side, and he couldn’t help but grin.

Especially when she casually wrapped a hand around his waist and plastered their sides together. Barry kissed her temple before answering.

‘I really don’t know’, he smiled, ‘but I think Cisco would complain if we were.’

Iris snorted. ‘Still, they’re cute.’

‘Yeah’, Barry nodded, ‘the Arrow and his girlfriend are cute.’

‘Adorable.’, Iris went on, and Barry went with it.

‘Lovely.’

‘Hmmm’, she nodded. ‘I wanna us to be like that when we grow up.’

Barry smiled. ‘You know, Oliver once told me that guys like us don’t get the girl.’

Iris frowned, and Barry battled the urge to kiss it away. ‘Well, he was wrong. Clearly’, she pointedly said the last word, in synch with her hand creeping down and casually squeezing his ass.

‘I don’t wanna be like that when we grow up’, Barry grinned. ‘I’d be an awful mayor.’

Iris laughed, but Barry kissed her anyway.

 

**→Two: Caitlin and Cisco**

Cisco knew all about fighting with his significant other. Caitlin was ruthless, she thought him everything he knew about fighting.

Yeah, they fought a lot, always had, but since they got together, it only grew worse. It felt like they fought every day, over the stupidest of things, and twice a day if there was a metahuman around.

Cisco understood it though, because not only did they love each other, but they were both stubborn and overly protective of one another and of their friends. So they always ended up arguing, because the other one wanted to jump in front of the metaphorical bullet.

Felicity and Oliver, though… They were on a whole other level.

Right now, they were in the middle of the Cortex, fighting. Felicity was screaming, her hair a mess and frantically waving her hands around, and Oliver had a very wild look in his eyes, his face was red and he looked one second away from picking Felicity up and locking her in the pipeline. For her own safety, of course.

It went on for twenty minutes. Cisco tried to keep to the background, he wanted to leave, really, but Felicity and Oliver were blocking the exit. Caitlin came to his side, at one point, she didn’t say anything, she just grabbed a hold of his hand and brought their sides together.

‘Are we that bad?’, Caitlin whispered in his ear.

Cisco turned to look at her, and he was surprised by the insecurity he could read in her eyes.

‘Hey’, he whispered back, tightening his hold on her hand. ‘We _are_ that bad. But it’s only because we’re idiots, and we love each other to death and we get stupid in our quest to take care of the other one.’

Caitlin smiled, and pushed her face into his shoulder, trying to hide it.

‘You’re so romantic’, she teased, and Cisco snorted.

‘You love me anyway.’

She didn’t disagree, and Cisco knew that meant a ‘yes’ in Caitlin-speak, and that never failed to make butterflies appear in his stomach.

He let go of her hand in order to wrap it around her shoulders, bringing her closer still. Cisco kissed her, slowly and sweetly, and he could feel all the hesitance melting away from Caitlin, as she kissed him back and smiled against his lips.

When he pulled away, he didn’t go very far, winking at her.

‘If they’re anything like us, they’re probably end up having angry makeup sex tonight.’

Caitlin blushed instantly, which Cisco absolutely loved, and her eyes went to Felicity and Oliver. He kept looking at her, though.

‘Well’, Caitlin whispered, a new twinkle in her eyes. ‘It appears you’re right.’

When Cisco turned to look at Felicity and Oliver, he saw that they were busy kissing the hell out of each other, and Barry was laughing hysterically in the background.

‘I’m always right’, Cisco grinned back at his girlfriend, delighted to see the way she rolled her eyes.

 

**→Three: Lyla and Digg**

Lyla couldn’t help but stare. She’s known Oliver for quite some time now, and she knew a lot about him from John, but it was still weird: knowing how powerful and ruthless Oliver could be, but seeing him on the floor of her living room, playing with Sara.

He was lying down on his back, mostly on the play mat, and Sara was sitting on his chest, mostly. Oliver was always very careful with the baby, making sure he always had a hand in close proximity to Sara’s body, just in case she lost her balance.

Sara was happily babbling, looking at Oliver with wide eyes. Which was understandable, because Oliver kept making faces at her, and even though Sara didn’t understand, he kept saying the most ridiculous of words. Sara liked it, though.

Felicity’s voice interrupted Lyla’s staring. When she looked up, Felicity was by John’s side, casually waving her hand in front of his face.

John yelped, which was odd, to say the least, but then the light made something shine on Felicity’s hand, and Lyla understood, just as her husband was picking Felicity up and hugging her tightly.

‘Congratulations!’, Lyla said, wordlessly picking Sara up and extending a hand to Oliver as well. She kissed his cheek once he was up, and his grin was hard to match.

Then John was there, hugging Oliver and clapping him on the back, more roughly than it was probably necessary, but they were both grinning.

Lyla made her way to Felicity, and they hugged, as much as they could with Sara demanding attention between them.

‘When?’, was all Lyla asked, as she handed her daughter to Felicity.

‘We haven’t set anything yet’, Felicity answered, somewhat hesitantly. ‘There’s things that need to get sorted out, before. Like Oliver becoming mayor and all, my company. And other things, too.’ She bit on her lower lip and looked at Oliver, somewhat pointedly.

‘Right’, he said. ‘It’s going to be at least nine months, though. Uh well, seven and a half.’

Lyla and John both narrowed their eyes at that. Oliver grinned.

‘Oh my god’, John said, and Oliver nodded.

Of course, there was a new set of congratulations after that, and Lyla let Felicity and Oliver deal with Sara for the rest of the night.

After they left, and after they put Sara to sleep, John manhandled Lyla to the couch.

‘They’re going to be good parents’, Lyla said after they settled, and her husband hummed.

‘Not better than us, though.’

‘This is not a competition’, Lyla narrowed her eyes.

‘Sure’, John agreed easily, but he also kissed her as a distraction. Lyla decided to not deal with it now. Felicity and her had a few couple of months to talk sense into their men.

 

**→Four: Donna and Quentin**

Quentin never thought he’d find love again at his age. But Donna Smoak came in a whirlwind of blonde hair and infectious grins, and Quentin couldn’t really let go of her.

She felt the same, considering after a couple of months of dating, she moved to Star City and rented an apartment closer to his than to Felicity and Oliver’s loft. In the back of his head, Quentin knew she wasn’t going to spend a lot of time there, but he felt like they needed not to rush too much. 

His life was weird.

Very weird, considering he was in the Arrow’s lair, in the middle of a mission against Darhk, and he couldn’t stop staring at Felicity’s hand.

(‘Please, for the love of everything that is holy, you’re dating my mom, you can stop calling me Miss Smoak already!)

Felicity’s hand, which had a very beautiful and sparkly ring on it. Now, Quentin wasn’t much of a jewelry man, but there was something very familiar about Felicity’s new ring. It took him a while, but he remembered he saw it before, and it caught his eyes back then, too. He saw it on Moira Queen’s hand, so that meant that-

Oliver came into his field of vision.

‘You’re distracted’, he said, frowning.

‘By a shiny stone on your girlfriend’s hand.’, Quentin deadpanned.

Oliver smirked. ‘She’s not just my girlfriend anymore.’

Quentin figured as much, so he muttered a ‘congratulations!’ under his breath.

‘Is that… a problem?’, Oliver raised an eyebrow, and Quentin was very surprised to see hesitance in his eyes.

‘Does Donna know about it?’

Oliver shook his head. ‘She doesn’t know I actually asked, but she knows I was going to.’

Quentin nodded, finally grinning and clapping Oliver on the back. ‘When you let her know, you might want to stay away from windows.’

‘Why?’, Oliver frowned.

‘High pitched happy screaming’, was all Quentin said, and when all the color drained from Oliver’s face, the captain laughed a lot.

A couple of days later, when he was out for dinner with Donna, she leveled him with a look.

‘It’s weird, I think, that my baby’s living the love story of her life, and so am I.’

Quentin couldn’t help but smile. ‘I don’t think it’s weird. I just think that maybe, we should let them get the spotlight.’

Donna frowned, somewhat playfully. ‘So you’re not going to propose with a family heirloom?’

‘Damn right I’m not. My mother had the worst taste.’

She laughed at that, and grabbed a hold of his hand. ‘That’s okay, I don’t think I look as good in white as I would’ve looked a couple of decades ago.’

Quentin rolled his eyes, she was always trying to squeeze compliments out of him. He didn’t cave in this time, he just shoved a mouthful of pasta into his mouth and happily watched her indignation grow.

 

**→Five:  Kara Danvers and James Olsen**

‘You ruined everything!’, the blonde woman screeched angrily, and Kara did a double take.

‘I just saved your life! He can breathe fire, and he was going to –‘

‘Don’t you think I know that?’, the blonde rolled her eyes. ‘I could’ve handled it, because I was bait, and because the Arrow is sitting on that rooftop’, she pointed a perfectly manicured finger, ‘with an arrow version of a cold gun.’

‘Oh’, Kara blinked.

The woman sighed. ‘Seriously, doesn’t any superhero ever think of calling? So many things could have been avoided if they just called before. Hey, Arrow, hi, I just wanted to say I’m gonna pass through Star City. Oh, you want me to stay away from 5th and North Street? Suuuure, no problem.’

‘I’m sorry’, Kara felt the need to say.

The woman waved her hand. ‘At least you got him.’, she eyed the unconscious metahuman.

‘Uh… what do we do with him?’, Kara asked.

‘The Flash is on his way’, the blonde didn’t miss a beat.

Just as she finished saying the words, there was a flash of bright red that blew Kara’s hair and cape in her face, and when she managed to catch her bearings, the metahuman was gone and the blonde was walking away.

‘Thanks for your help’, she yelled over her shoulder. ‘But you should call next time!’

Three days later, she was wearing a very uncomfortable dress, anxiously wringing her fingers, sitting in a ridiculously expensive restaurant, James by her side.

They were in Star City because he had to write an article about Felicity Smoak, the surprising CEO of Palmer Tech and her boyfriend, Oliver Queen, who was, even more surprisingly, running for mayor. Kara didn’t know much about the Star City gossip, but she heard enough about them in the last few days to realize they were pretty big.

James told Cat that it was a very important story, and that he needed an assistant, so their boss was happy to live without Kara for a few days. But in fact, James wanted this to be a vacation, a time out.

Kara tried her best, but when he was following Felicity and Oliver around, or when he was furiously typing his article away late at night, Kara got bored, so she went out. She felt really bad, still, about getting into the Arrow’s plans, and very confused about the blonde woman with a wicked yelling voice and connection to two different superheroes.

Just as she thought this, the woman appeared in front of her.

James was quick to introduce them, Felicity Smoak and Oliver Queen and Kara just stared, mechanically shaking their hands.

‘Are you okay?’, Felicity frowned. ‘You’re looking a little pale.’

‘Uh…’, Kara didn’t manage to say much, but Felicity narrowed his eyes.

‘Oh’, she said, like she figured something out. ‘You look cute with glasses on.’

‘Uh…’, Kara blushed, but still didn’t manage to say anything.

‘Do you two know each other?’, James frowned, and Felicity whispered to Kara.

‘Does he know?’

She managed to nod, and Felicity elbowed Oliver in the stomach before turning to look at James.

‘We met the other night, when Supergirl saved me from a fire breathing metahuman.’

James’ jaw dropped, and Oliver sighed.

‘We should do this somewhere less public’, he said, and that made Kara yelp.

‘I’m not going to fight you!’

Oliver just blinked at her for a couple of times. ‘Of course not. I just meant that we should talk somewhere with less civilians around.’

‘How do you guys feel about pizza in our secret lair?’, Felicity grinned.

Kara nodded, still very confused.

James sighed, wrapping a hand around her waist. ‘I was really looking forward to this interview.’

Felicity laughed. ‘We’ll get to that, I promise. After, you know’, she lowered her voice, ‘super secret superhero business.’

By the time they left Star City, James had a brilliant article written, Supergirl had a few allies, Kara had a new friend and a secret mission, to make her relationship with James as strong as the relationship Felicity and Oliver had.


	27. So you approve? Oh yes.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _So whenever you do decide to do Olicity prompts (I hope soon because you seriously ROCK) can you do one with Moira defending Olicity or more that Felicity is a great choice for Oliver?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in a world where Moira lived.

Felicity and Moira never had a good relationship.

At first, Moira ignored her, probably thinking Oliver’s EA wasn’t of importance. Then, when Felicity proved herself a worthy opponent, and Oliver took her side, Moira loathed Felicity. The death glares were a day to day occurrence, and more than once, Felicity thought Oliver’s mother was planning to murder her.

It didn’t happen, obviously, and over time, things with Moira settled. After she admitted she knew Oliver’s secret, and after she stepped back from the race for mayor, she made an effort to reconnect with Oliver. And it worked. Over time, it worked.

Things were well in the Queen family.

And then Oliver died. That was the first time in a long while when Felicity actively interacted with Moira.

It was horrible, seeing a mother losing her child. For the second time. Seeing a sister losing her brother. For the second time. But Felicity stood her ground, and did as much as she could. It wasn’t much, but she made sure the two women were eating and were taking care of themselves.

And then, Oliver was back. And Ra’s was after him. And Oliver left, again, joined the League. But this time, Felicity went after him and brought him back.

Oliver kept in touch with Moira while they were away. She heard him, it seemed like Moira always asked about Felicity, but Oliver’s answers were always short. Understandable.

What they came back, Felicity’s relationship with Moira didn’t change a lot. The woman was as polite and cold as ever. Truth be told, they didn’t interact that much, Felicity managed to fake a work emergency almost every time Oliver was supposed to have dinner with her. He didn’t seem to mind.

So Felicity was very surprised one day, when her EA frantically barged into her office and didn’t even say something, as he rushed to open up the tv.

Moria Queen’s faced bloomed over Channel 5, and it took a few beats for Felicity to read the title: _Moira Queen finally speaks about Oliver and his girlfriend._

‘Uhm’, Felicity frowned, as Jerry put a hand on her shoulder.

‘Wait for it’, he said, oddly excited.

‘I have to admit’, Moira said on screen, ‘I didn’t think much of Felicity Smoak when I met her. Granted, she was just my son’s assistant at the moment.’

‘And that’s the issue, isn’t it?’, the reporter interrupted. ‘That in such a short time, Felicity Smoak went from being in the IT department to owning the company. Ray Palmer’s company, whom she dated before he died and before she started dating your son.’

‘Hmmm’, Moira nodded. ‘Yes, it is quite an unexpected journey, isn’t it? She deserves it, though.’

‘Does she?’

Moira bristled at the reporter’s tone.

‘Yes’, she said with conviction. ‘Felicity Smoak is brilliant. My son, he’s not a manager, being CEO wasn’t a good job for him. The only reason he lasted as long as he did was because of Felicity.’

‘What about Palmer?’, the interviewer narrowed his eyes.

‘Ray Palmer was a genius, an entrepreneur and I’m certain his decision to give Felicity his company has been very well thought through.’

‘So you don’t think she made him do it? They were dating at the time.’

Felicity spluttered. Jerry patted her shoulder, as Moira chuckled.

‘Here’s a piece of new information for you’, the older Queen smiled easily at the reporter. ‘Straight from the inside. Felicity didn’t knew what papers she was signing.’

‘How is that possible?’, the reporter frowned.

‘There were a lot of things going on at the time’, Moira shrugged. ‘And the two of them always had a relationship based on trust. Felicity didn’t check.’

‘Okay’, the reporter shook his head. ‘What can you tell us about the fact that your son started dating Felicity right after she and Ray Palmer broke up?’

Moira rolled her eyes. ‘It’s their business, isn’t it? But, what I can say, is that what Felicity and Oliver have started way before that.’

‘So you approve of their relationship?’

‘Oh yes.’

‘And you are okay with your family’s company being run by her?’

‘Of course’, Moira didn’t hesitate. ‘I’m sure Felicity will do a marvelous job at it. The company isn’t called Queen for now, but it is in very capable hands.’

Felicity dropped down onto the couch then. Jerry kept patting her shoulder.

‘What about Oliver’s campaign, and Felicity’s involvement in it?’, the reporter went on.

Moira nodded. ‘I think Oliver does have what it takes to be a good Mayor for this city. I’m not saying it just because he’s my son and I will always support him, I’m saying it because he, in comparison to every other candidate Star City had, including me, Oliver knows what survival is. And he knows what this city needs to survive. As for Felicity’s involvement, well. I don’t really agree with that statement, that behind every strong man is an even stronger woman. But I do think that Felicity and Oliver bring out the best in each other. And’, Moira smiled, so wildly and caring it freaked Felicity out, ‘I’m very glad. That even though they’ve both went through such troubled times, they found this little piece of light, this beautiful love they share.’

Felicity didn’t really hear the rest of the interview. She was too busy having a mild panic attack. When she snapped out of it, Oliver was sitting in front of her on the coffee table, a takeout bag of Big Belly Burger next to him and a somewhat sheepish expression on his face.

‘I didn’t think it would go that well, to be honest.’, he said. ‘No matter what Alex told her to say.’

Felicity didn’t manage to say anything.

‘She was telling the truth, though’, Oliver went on. ‘I mean, mom told me a while ago that you were a very powerful woman. Recently, she just tells me that we deserve each other.', he smiled softly before taking a somewhat deep breath. 'And when I asked for her ring, the first words that came out of her mouth were _what can I do to make Felicity forgive me?_ ’.

Felicity blinked. For a while. She processed the words Oliver said, and then she went through them again, and tried to understand them and blinked some more.

‘What ring?’, she finally asked, making Oliver smile wider.

He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a gorgeous gold ring, with a big diamond and an intricate design of smaller ones.

Felicity just stared, as he wordlessly slid the ring onto Felicity’s finger, not letting go of her hand afterwards, bringing it up to his lips and softly kissing her knuckles, smiling all the while.

Jerry startled her, and Felicity saw him coming in with a bottle of champagne and two glasses. He nodded at Oliver, winked at Felicity and left without saying another word.

‘What is happening?’, she managed to find her voice, even though it didn’t come out too strong.

Oliver smirked. ‘I’m proposing, Felicity.’

She gulped.

‘Are you saying yes?’, he smirked some more.

Felicity could only nod, but it was okay, because Oliver was kissing her breathlessly.

Five minutes later, with her fiance's hand on her ass and his tongue in her mouth, she had an epiphany.

‘We’re going to have to change the company name back to Queen.’

Oliver grinned. ‘That was my plan all along.’

‘Really?’

‘Nope.’ They went back to kissing, until Jerry awkwardly reminded them of the security cameras.


	28. The Butt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> random tumblr prompt list: “I’m going to need you to put on some underwear before you say anything else.“ 
> 
> Five times Felicity accidentally walked in on a naked Oliver

**→One**

She really had to tell him, okay? She found something incredibly important and urgent about the next name on Oliver’s list, and while it was late at night, she knew he wouldn’t be asleep.

But he wasn’t answering his phone.

So Felicity did something she never in a million years thought she would ever do. She drove to the Queen mansion.

The lady who opened the door was very nice after Felicity said who she was. Very nice. It was weird. But the maid waved it off, saying that Oliver told her that Felicity was a good friend of his and that she will always be welcomed in his home.

Felicity couldn’t really say anything else after that, so she followed the maid’s instructions and went up to Oliver’s room.

Where, of course, Oliver didn’t answer her knocks. So Felicity cursed under her breath for a while, and boldly walked in.

Only to see Oliver’s bare ass.

There was a towel in his hand, which he tossed on the floor and then turned around.

Felicity stared.

‘Felicity?’, Oliver asked.

Felicity stared some more.

‘Felicity?’, Oliver asked, clearly concerned.

‘I’m going to need you to put on some underwear before you say anything else.’

Oliver smirked, but Felicity didn’t see it, because she was still staring … somewhere lower than his face. A lot lower.

Oliver turned around again, completely ignoring the way Felicity audibly took a deep breath, and put on a pair of pajama pants.

When he turned around, he smiled.

‘May I speak now?’

Felicity nodded, his teasing tone going completely over her head.

‘Well’, Oliver’s smile grew, ‘you’re the one who came to my place, so you should be the one talking.’

Felicity took a deep breath and started talking, looking pointedly only into Oliver’s eyes.

 

**→Two**

Felicity shrieked, covering her eyes instantly. She also turned around. A couple of times. Until she ran straight into the glass door.

Still, she kept her eyes covered.

‘Why?’, her voice was too high. ‘Why in god’s name are you naked in the office?’

‘It’s the middle of the night, there’s nobody here’, Oliver said, too calm for Felicity’s taste. She could hear shuffling around, but she kept her eyes covered.

‘I’m here, Oliver! I’m here! And you’re naked in the middle of your office.’

‘I’m not naked anymore.’

At that, Felicity took her hands away from her face. Slowly.

And yes, Oliver was now wearing a pair of jeans and a sweater.

‘I repeat’, Felicity said slowly, willing her voice not to sound angry again. ‘Why were you naked?’

Oliver shrugged. ‘It gets stuffy in a suit after 16 straight hours.’

‘But’, Felicity blinked, ‘underwear?’

All he did was raise an eyebrow, and really, it was enough for Felicity to turn completely red.

She gulped. ‘Did you forget about the security cameras?’

Oliver shrugged. ‘It’s the middle of the night.’

‘And we have 24h constant security guards.’

He faltered at that, making Felicity roll her eyes. But she pushed a couple of keys on her tablet before speaking again.

‘Footage deleted.’

‘Thank you’, Oliver smiled, gratefully. ‘Now, why were you in here in the first place?’

Felicity blinked. Twice. ‘I have no idea.’

Oliver raised an eyebrow, which, again, made her blush furiously.

‘It completely slipped my mind’, she went on.

‘Right’, Oliver said, slowly, clearly trying not to laugh.

Felicity turned around and left without a word. The bastard was still smirking when she came back two minutes after, when she finally remembered what she wanted in the first place.

 

**→Three**

She didn’t even notice until she was by her desk.

In true Felicity fashion, she stepped into the Foundry already talking. Now, she couldn’t remember what she was talking about, because Oliver was in the middle of the training mats, completely naked.

His left hand was lifted up.

His right leg was bent, hooking over his left knee.

The muscles in his legs were contracted, and his entire body was glistening with sweat.

‘You’re early’, it was Oliver that spoke first, slowly lowering his limbs and straightening his back.

‘You’re naked’, Felicity answered.

Oliver turned around and walked to the cot, putting on a pair of sweatpants.

‘In my defense’, he said when he turned around. ‘I live here. I’m allowed to be naked in the space where I live.’

Felicity rolled her eyes. ‘You need to find an apartment.’

 

**→Four**

‘Are you kidding me?’, Felicity shrieked, lowering herself to the floor.

She was exhausted, it was the middle of the night, she was wearing pajamas and she was cold.

Felicity just quit. She lowered herself to the floor, the foreign cool tiles making her body shiver. But she didn’t let it stop her, from laying face down on the floor, pillowing her head between her crossed arms.

‘Felicity?’, Oliver asked, obviously confused.

‘You’re naked’, Felicity whined, voice muffled by her hands. ‘Why does this keep happening?’

‘Because you keep forgetting to knock?’, he sounded amused, which only made Felicity give up some more.

‘You called me here, asshole’, she sighed. ‘You knew I was coming, you wanted me to come.’

Oliver coughed. It took a couple of beats, and Felicity shrieked when she figured out the innuendo she just said.

He just laughed. ‘Any reason why you’re lying on my floor?’

Felicity sighed. ‘Technically, it’s Thea’s floor.’

‘Details’, Oliver didn’t miss a beat.

She sighed again. ‘I’m exhausted. My brain isn’t functioning at top level.’

Oliver sighed, but didn’t say anything. She heard footsteps on the floor, getting closer to her, and next thing she knew, there was a hand on her back, rubbing soothing circles into it.

‘I’m sorry’, he whispered, very softly. ‘But I really need your help with this, and it’s a time sensitive problem.’

Felicity sighed, but she also nodded. Slowly, she stood up, and accepted Oliver’s hand, leaning on him when she got to her feet.

She couldn’t help but eye Oliver’s body, which was now covered in sweatpants and a simple gray t-shirt.

Oliver raised a playful eyebrow at her obvious checking out, but all Felicity did was roll her eyes and ask about coffee.

 

**→Five**

Oliver didn’t hear Felicity coming out of the bathroom. Because he was still reaching for his pants.

And, really, there was no need. In Felicity’s mind, there was never any need for Oliver to wear clothes. Ever.

So Felicity didn’t hesitate in running forward and plastering herself to Oliver’s back, wrapping her hands around his chest and her feet around his waist.

But Oliver didn’t expect it, clearly, because he yelped, rather unattractively, and stumbled forward.

They fell onto the bed with a grunt, and Oliver cursed under his breath. But Felicity let him turn around, until he was laying on his back and she was straddling his hips.

Oliver growled, angrily, even as he gently tucked a stray piece of hair behind Felicity’s ear.

‘It’s not fair’, he said. ‘I’m naked and you’re wearing clothes’.

He glared at Felicity’s t-shirt like it personally offended him. She couldn’t help but chuckle.

‘Don’t get angry, husband’, she paired the whisper with kisses on his jaw line. ‘It’s an easy fix.’

Oliver growled at that, again. But he also took off her shirt, and Felicity heard the distinct sound of fabric ripping, but she couldn’t care less, because her husband was kissing her breathlessly. 


	29. The cutest doctor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by [this post](http://dailygladers.tumblr.com/post/129000700374)  
> And I tweaked my knee a little bit, but it wasn’t too bad. The doctor described it as like ‘think of your knee as like a box of Rice Krispy treats. And your knee is the Rice Krispies inside – it’s squished a little bit but the box is fine’. That’s literally how he described it. And I was like, ‘you’re the best doctor, you’re the cutest doctor I’ve ever met.’

Oliver blamed Thea. Over and over again, he blamed and cursed Thea. This was all her fault, because it was her idea and her puppy eyes that got Oliver in this situation, groaning in pain in the back of an ambulance.

⃝

When Thea said she wanted to make her own charity organization, everybody was thrilled. Their mother thought that Thea was finally growing up, their father thought it would be good for her image and Oliver was just glad to see his little sister so excited.

Fast forward a couple of months, and cut to Thea begging Oliver to play lacrosse, of all the things!, for her charity.

He couldn’t say no. He knew how to play lacrosse, he was kind of good at it, he enjoyed sports and his sister was begging. He couldn’t say no.

Fast forward to the middle of the game, and Oliver is lying on the ground, his helmet off, his leg bent at an angle it really shouldn’t be, and the medics were just staring, until one of them called the ambulance.

Digg rides on the ambulance with him, thank god. Oliver has a moment of feeling embarrassed, that he’s screaming and crying in front of his driver turned best friend, but it’s gone as soon as it comes, when John makes absolutely no fuss about taking off his scarf and shoving it between Oliver’s teeth.

‘You sound like a dying cat’, is all he says, but it’s said as soft as Digg would ever get, so it’s okay.

When they get to the hospital, a nurse starts by asking Oliver’s medical history, which he answers as well as he can, then he’s wheeled in for an x-ray, and then, finally, put into a bed.

It’s a private room, courtesy of his last name, and even though Oliver still feels like crying because of the pain he’s in, he doesn’t. The nurse informs him that he’s being pumped with pain killers and that his doctor will be with him shortly.

Things get fuzzy after that, with Digg opening the tv and settling in on the news, and Oliver’s pain receding, as well as the tingles in his hands.

He feels very weird. Absently, he knows it’s the meds, but that doesn’t mean the way his leg feels covered in mud is good.

When she walks into the room, Oliver stares.

She’s gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. Long blonde hair tucked into a high pony tail, think rimmed glasses and bright pink lips. There are bags under her eyes, but a smile on her face, and her white coat makes her shine.

Wait. White coat.

‘Hello, Mr. Queen’, she says sweetly, coming over to the side of his bed. ‘I’m Felicity Smoak, I’ll be your doctor for today.’

Oliver doesn’t react. And he doesn’t look away from her either.

‘He’s a bit out of it’, Digg tells her, a smirk on his lips.

‘Ah yes’, she nods along. ‘Understandable, the pain medication is quite strong, especially for someone who isn’t used to it.’ She turns to Oliver, then. ‘Are you feeling at least mildly okay?’

He nods. ‘I’m feeling weird.’

‘Okay’, she smiles easily. ‘Think you can keep up with what I’m about to tell you?’

‘Sure’, Oliver finds his mouth working. ‘I’m pretty fast.’

‘Well’, she blinks twice at him, ‘you’re going to stop being fast for a while. Your knee is okay, mostly, but you’re going to need to keep it down until it mends fully.’

Oliver frowns.

‘Think of your knee as like…’, she waves her hands around, ‘as a box of Rice Krispy treats. And your knee is the Rice Krispies inside, okay?’

‘Okay’, Oliver frowns some more, looking down at the knee in question.

‘So your knee… the Rice Krispies, it’s squished a little bit, but the box is fine.’

She doesn’t say anything more, so Oliver drags his eyes away from his knee and to the gorgeous doctor in front of him. She’s looking at him like she's expecting an answer, so Oliver finds himself nodding.

‘You’re the best doctor’, he says with conviction. ‘You’re the cutest doctor I’ve ever met.’

Digg snorts. Felicity just blinks down at him for a while. Then, very quickly, she looks away, but even in his pain killer haze, Oliver sees the blush on her cheeks.

He wants to lick it. Or maybe just touch it with his fingertips.

‘Thank you’, Felicity says, still looking at the ground. ‘Now, well, yes, uhm, you should rest, it’s clear that they gave you the good stuff. Sleep, Mr. Queen, uh, doctor’s orders! I’ll uhm, come back in the morning, check on you and probably discharge you.’

She keeps mumbling as she leaves the room, a flurry of blonde hair and rosy cheeks.

Oliver grins. He keeps grinning as Digg throws him a look.

‘I don’t know if that was very smooth’, John smirks, ‘or very pathetic.’

⃝

When Doctor Smoak comes back in the morning, Oliver feels better. He feels good enough to wince, fully remembering the conversation they had the night before.

‘Good morning!’, she smiles brightly at him. ‘How are you feeling?’

‘Embarrassed’, Oliver doesn’t miss a beat.

She snickers. ‘I meant medically.’

He ducks his head. ‘Much better. The pain is manageable and my head’s not spinning anymore.’

‘Good’.

Oliver feels her tap his ankle, so he looks up. There’s a professional note in the look she gives him, but her eyes are sparkling.

‘You’ve got to be careful for a month or two. Your knee is still pretty banged up, and it can get worse very easily. So tell your trainer to cut back on the leg work, and you need to wear a kneepad 24/7, for at least a week. After that, just when you exercise. Okay?’

He nods, frowning immediately after. ‘How did you know I have a trainer?’

She, surprisingly enough, just raises an eyebrow and slowly, so slowly, moves her eyes over his body. Despite himself, Oliver blushes under her scrutiny.

‘Lucky guess’, is all Felicity says, any intent in her eyes disappearing after, replaced with soft understatement.

‘Please be careful, I really don’t want to see you in here again.’

Oliver decides to gamble. Story of his life, really, why should he stop now?

‘You don’t want to see me in here, or in general?’

That look’s back in Felicity’s eyes. Full of intent and excitement.

‘I wouldn’t mind seeing you', she smiles, 'let’s say Friday night.’

Oliver nods, as quickly as he can.

‘About seven?’

He keeps nodding.

‘You’ll pick me up after my shift?’

His neck starts to hurt, so he stops nodding like a lunatic.

Felicity grins at him, somewhat shyly. ‘I may or may not have stolen your number from your chart.’

‘That’s okay’, Oliver is quick to say. ‘Very okay.’

She giggles, and Oliver grins back. She reminds him once again to take care and not indulge on the pain medication, and winks at him before closing the door behind her.

Oliver is smitten. Grinning like an idiot, excitement crawling through his body.

A cough startles him so badly, he yelps. He completely forgot Digg was in the room.

‘Smooth, Queen’, his best friend smirks. ‘You got yourself a love doctor.’

Even though he’s grinning, Oliver buries his face underneath his pillow, to the sounds of John’s gruff laughter.


	30. Santa's elf

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [1022bridgetp](http://1022bridgetp.tumblr.com/) Hello, I don't know if you still taking prompts but I have one after this week's episode: Oliver loses Sara in the mall. He finds her eventually but he is looking for her.
> 
> Uhm, not this week's episode. I got this a while ago (9 months OHMYGOD), in season 3, when Oliver lost Akio in the streets.

Oliver was an idiot. The biggest idiot on the planet. Clearly.

How could he think he was capable of handling taking Sara to the mall? In December?

Digg was going to kill him. Digg was going to forget all the years they’ve been best friends, and kill him. Slowly and painfully.

Because Oliver lost his 3 year old daughter. At the mall.

⌠

Oliver thought it would be a good idea to take Sara to see Santa at the mall. They’d spend some quality time together, Sara would get to be happy because she’d meet Santa, Digg and Lyla would get the afternoon off, they’d get an adorable picture of Sara with Santa and some insights of what gifts the little girl wanted.

It was a win-win situation.

But Oliver didn’t count for the fact that even if it was only the first week of December, the mall was absolutely packed. And he didn’t count for the fact that Sara would spill orange juice on her, and Oliver would have to buy her a new shirt.

So here he was, standing in line in Baby Gap, with Sara clutching tightly to his hand. She was already wearing a, quite frankly, horrible pink and red Christmas sweater, but she saw it and didn’t let go of it. So Oliver paid quickly, but he had to let go of her hand, just for a few seconds, to hand over his credit card.

And just like that, Sara was gone, and Oliver’s stomach dropped.

He ran all over the store yelling for Sara, but he didn’t find her. Somewhere along the way, the Gap employees started helping him. They weren’t successful.

Then, Oliver ran outside. He wandered around the mall, staying close to the Gap store, still yelling for Sara.

His desperation grew in sync with his voice, and with every second that passed without Sara answering his calls, Oliver was getting closer to a heart attack. Or full blown panic attack. Either or both, really.

He didn’t even notice the phone ringing, but a security guard, that started following him around 10 minutes ago, he pointed it out.

Oliver didn’t manage to say anything, before a female voice started talking, rapidly.

‘Mister Queen, I found Sara by Santa’s station. She’s alright, but she’s crying, can you come and pick her up?’

‘I’m on my way’, Oliver hung up and started running.

He found Sara in the arms of a young blonde woman, wearing a slutty elf outfit. The toddler was crying, bawling really, clutching to the woman’s shoulders.

Oliver didn’t say anything, he just took Sara from her arms and cradled her in his. He whispered sweetly to her for a couple of minutes, until she calmed down.

‘Don’t do that again, please’, Oliver all but begged. ‘You scared me.’

‘Am sowy, Owiver’, Sara was still struggling with her _R_ s and _L_ s, and it was the most adorable thing ever.

‘Just don’t do it again, okay? You mommy and daddy would get really sad if anything bad happened to you. And they’d do bad, hurtful things to me, probably.’

Sara giggled at that.

Then, the blonde elf appeared in front of them, expertly wiping Sara’s tears away with a handkerchief.

‘Come on, sweetie’, she said cheekily, winking at Sara. ‘You wouldn’t want Santa to see you cry, would you?’

Sara froze at that, looking at the elf with big, hopeful eyes.

‘Do you want to meet him?’, the blonde smiled at the little girl. ‘I’m his elf, you know, I could take you to meet him right now.’

Surprisingly, Sara turned to Oliver, as did the elf.

‘Of course’, he nodded. ‘But I’m not going to take my eyes off you and you come straight back here after you’re done talking to Santa.’

‘I pwomise’, Sara nodded seriously, and Oliver, a bit reluctantly, handed her to the elf.

He was too busy staring at where Sara was excitedly telling Santa about the adventure she went on when she got lost in the mall, so Oliver didn’t notice the elf coming by his side. He startled when he felt a hand tapping his shoulder, but when he turned around, the blonde woman was smiling softly at him, handing him a plastic cup.

‘You’re still shaking’, she said softly, and Oliver wordlessly took the cup.

He thought it was coffee, but it turned out to be just hot chocolate. He felt only mildly embarrassed about the fact that he drank it all in one go. And it helped him calm down, quite instantly, and his brain started working again.

‘Thank you’, he said to the young woman. ‘I didn’t even catch your name.’

‘It’s Felicity’, she smiled, ‘Felicity Smoak.’

‘I am very grateful’, he breathed out, looking back to Sara, who was still talking Santa’s ear off.

‘I’m just happy I managed to make out who you were’, the woman chuckled. ‘She kept talking about an Uncle Queen Oliver, and it took me a while.’

‘About that’, Oliver narrowed his eyes, ‘how did you get my number?’

She blushed at that, and winced. ‘You have it in your e-mail signature.’

‘Have we met before?’, Oliver asked, probably more gruffly than he intended.

She shook her head. ‘Not really. I work in the IT department, Mr. Queen. You sent an e-mail to my boss at one point, and he forwarded it to me to fix the problem and I’m just…’, she turned to look at Sara, ‘really glad I didn’t delete it.’

‘Thank you’, Oliver sighed.

‘No problem’, she shook her head, still smiling towards Sara. ‘She’s precious, that one.’

‘That she is.’, Oliver agreed. ‘Her parents would have killed me if anything happened to her.’

There was a pause. ‘You don’t mean that literally, do you?’

Oliver snorted, making her look to him. ‘I do, actually. Her father is a retired captain turned bodyguard, and her mother works for a secret government agency I don’t even know the name of.’

Felicity just blinked for a while. She opened her mouth to say something, but an elf called her from the other part of the Santa set up.

‘Go’, he smiled at her. ‘Thank you again, I’m in your debt.’

Felicity shook her head, biting on her lower lip, the butterflies that appeared in Oliver’s stomach taking him completely by surprise.

‘It was my pleasure, Mr. Queen.’

With that, she bounced over to the other elf, leaving Oliver staring at her quite amazing ass, completely in shock because of the way his heart was beating rapidly.

⌠

‘How was the mall?’, Digg asked him, quickly taking Sara out of his hands.

‘Well’, Oliver tiled his head, ‘I lost Sara for a while there, found out she wants a pony for Christmas, and I may have fallen in love.’

Digg’s jaw dropped.

⌠

From: Felicity Smoak  
To: Oliver Queen

_Good morning, Mr. Queen!_

_Thank you very much for the flowers, they look great on my desk. You shouldn’t have._

_However, I’m not going to be upset that you did. Quite the opposite, actually._

_I would very much enjoy going to the zoo with you and Sara. But only if you promise to take me out for coffee after we get her back to her parents :)._

_Have a great day,  
Felicity looking-forward-to-our-date Smoak_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not gonna lie, my loves, the updates are going to be sparse next. I'm sick, there's work, and I started a sterek Thing. Sorry. But, knowing me, I'll get to writing when the show goes on hiatus. Stick with me, guys. I'm still trying :D


	31. Arsenal vs. Deadshot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [waiting-for-meaning](http://waiting-for-meaning.tumblr.com/) asked: _I love how you've characterized Deadshot and Roy, so what about a fic where Felicity and Oliver are kidnapped, and Deadshot and Roy have to partner together to save them? I somehow don't imagine that partnership going very well. :)_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> UH HI HELLO UHM  
> I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while. A long while. Hopefully, we'll get back on track now. Here's a quicky :)

Of all the things Felicity expected to happen on her and Oliver’s first night at the hotel… this was not it.

She woke up to the sound of glass breaking. Before she even realized what was happening, Oliver pushed her off the bed and even though she landed on the floor with a groan, he didn’t hesitate in throwing himself onto her, covering her body with his.

‘Why are you naked?’, a very high pitched Roy asked, and after sharing a long, confused look with Oliver, they both moved.

While Oliver reached for his pants that were under the bed, Felicity blindly reached for the sheet on the bed. After they were both decent enough, they got up off the floor.

Felicity faltered, again, because Roy and Deadshot stood in the middle of their hotel room, in full combat gear, pieces of glass still all around them.

‘What the hell?’, Felicity managed to wheeze out.

‘You weren’t answering your phones’, Roy said forcefully, pointing to Deadshot afterwards. ‘He thought you were kidnapped.’

‘Don’t put this on me, Mini-Arrow’, Deadshot glared at Roy.

‘DO NOT’, Roy roared, ‘CALL ME THAT YOU LITTLE PIECE OF SH-‘

‘Calm down, baby boy’, Deadshot rolled his eyes. ‘You’ll get wrinkles.’

‘You’ll get an arrow shoved up your-‘

‘Oh, you could try’, Deadshot smirked. ‘I’d pin you down before you could even call your name.’

‘You would not-‘

‘Sure I would, I got something you don’t. Experience.’

‘Not good enough’, Roy all but growled. ‘I could kill you in 10 different ways without-‘

‘What is going on?’, Oliver very loud voice interrupted.

Both Roy and Deadshot turned to look at him, completely in sync. There was a pause.

‘I need your help’, Deadshot said. ‘He’, Roy got a slight smack against the back of his head, ‘couldn’t find you.’

Roy wordlessly shoved his bow into Deadshot’s stomach. They glared at each other but the fighting stopped there.

‘Roy’, Felicity said, slowly, ‘you didn’t check your e-mail yesterday?’

That got him frowning. ‘No?’

‘So you didn’t see the e-mail in which I told you we’re leaving town for a couple of days, in a place without reception because we just need a break.’

Roy, surprisingly, blushed.

‘Idiot’, Deadshot told him.

‘Asshole’, Roy countered.

‘Teenager’.

‘Stop’, Felicity said, and thankfully, they both did. ‘How did you find us?’

‘Tracked your phone till the closest town.’, Deadshot said.

‘Then we asked around.’, Roy went on.

‘Had to rough up a couple of mobsters.’, Deadshot shrugged.

‘Mobsters?’, Oliver asked after a beat.

‘There’s a surprisingly large number of Italian mobsters in these parts’, Roy explained. ‘I seriously thought they got you.’

‘What would the Italian mob want with the Arrow?’, Felicity asked.

‘We…’, Roy looked to Deadshot, who just shook his head. ‘We didn’t think that far’, Roy said, slowly.

Felicity facepalmed.

‘What do you need?’, Oliver asked Deadshot, and Felicity sighed.

She wordlessly picked up a change of clothes and headed to the bathroom.

When she came out, Roy and Deadshot were clearly trying to explain something, but they kept getting sidetracked. By the need to insult the other one.

‘That’s stupid’, Roy said. ‘You’re stupid.’

‘Got any better ideas, genius?’

‘We could-‘

‘Any ideas that won’t get us instantly killed?’

‘Just because I-‘, Roy tried.

‘No, you nothing, I didn’t come here to talk to you, I came here to talk to the real superhero.’

‘I am just as-‘

‘You’re really not, cupcake. You’re 12.’

‘Fuck you and-‘, Roy’s face was so red, Felicity thought he was going to explode.

‘I don’t swing that way, sweetheart.’, Deadshot winked at Roy, making him take a step forward.

‘You are the most insufferable-‘

‘We wouldn’t have gotten here if it wasn’t for me’, all playfulness fell from Deadshot’s face. ‘We wouldn’t have gotten any information from the Italians because you didn’t have the stomach to get it.’

‘I stopped you from killing that guy!’

‘I wouldn’t have killed him, I just-‘

‘I’m 80% sure you broke his spine.’

‘He’ll live’, Deadshot waved a hand around.

They kept going, on and on and on, completely ignoring Felicity and Oliver.

‘Aren’t you going to intervene?’, Felicity whispered to Oliver.

‘Nope’, he whispered back. ‘This is hilarious.’

Felicity just… stared at Oliver.

‘What?’, he shrugged. ‘I could be having sex with you right now, but instead I have to listen to them. At least they’re entertaining.’

When Felicity turned back, Roy was yelling, cursing more than anything, and advancing on Deadshot, but every time he got close enough, Lawton shoved him, hard enough to make Roy stumble back.

‘Are we going to help him?’, Felicity pressed.

‘Eventually’, Oliver nodded. ‘I’m actually curious about how long they can keep it up.’

Turns out, it took Roy and Deadshot three hours to stop arguing. By the end of it, Deadshot had a bloody nose, Roy had a black eye and Oliver was laughing his ass off.


	32. our love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _If you start Olicity Prompts again maybe you could write something to P!inks just give me a reason? I heard this earlier today and thought immediately of Olicity._  
>  and  
> Anon asked: _Because I'm a total downer, could you maybe do one inspired by 'Unconditional Love Poem' by Sierra Demulder? Maybe Felicity thinks that Oliver is starting things up with Sara or something, it would be an AU probably. I LOVE your drabbles, they are the best <3_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn’t what I usually do when someone requests a drabble based on a song. So this is… loosely based. And angsty. And I don't think Oliver would do something like this. ... not anymore, at least.

Oliver kept telling people how happy he was. And he was, Felicity knew he was saying the truth, she could see it clearly every time he smiled at her or kissed her temple.

She was happy, too. The happiest she has ever been.

Still, there were bad days.

Sometimes, after a hard fight, or after a particularly harsh joke from Thea, or even without any reason whatsoever, Oliver would have bad days.

Days in which he didn’t smile at Felicity. He didn’t kiss her, he barely touched her. He didn’t eat, he didn’t drink water, he barely moved. Usually, Oliver would spend the day on the couch, or on the balcony, just staring into the horizon.

It scared Felicity, when he’d get like this, but she understood it. There will always be a dark shadow cast over Oliver’s soul, and he needed days like these to fight it off. She just wished she could help.

But Oliver would usually come to her by the end of the day. At night, he’d snuggle up to her in bed, kiss her temple and fall asleep holding onto her tightly.

That’s how things went, that was the norm for Oliver, Felicity understood it and accepted it.

This past week, though, Oliver had a lot of bad days.

Felicity doesn’t know what triggered it. She just knows that Oliver hasn’t eaten in three days, that he keeps moving between the balcony and the couch, that he hasn’t looked at Felicity in three days, that he hasn’t touched her or kissed her or snuggled up to her in bed.

And then, Sara drops by one night. Felicity tries telling her that it isn’t a good idea, but Oliver calls her name.

Sara’s name, not Felicity’s.

So she steps back, lets Sara in and watches her confidently make her way to the balcony, where she doesn’t hesitate in hugging Oliver.

Oliver closes his eyes, and Felicity sees him relax in Sara’s arms.

God damn it, Felicity thinks. That should have been her.

Felicity gives them privacy, locks herself in the bedroom, where she doesn’t close one eye. Four hours later, Oliver still didn’t come to her.

She goes to the kitchen to grab a cup of milk, and sees that Sara is still there. She’s on the ground on the balcony, and Oliver is lying with his head in her lap.

It hurts Felicity. A lot.

She’s not really the jealous type, she never was. And she never felt the need to be like that with Oliver. Until now.

Now, her heart shreds to pieces and it hurts.

She knows Sara will always be important to Oliver. But she just hoped that, in time, she’ll be more important. Which is a very selfish thought, Felicity realizes, but …

Felicity wipes away the tears that have fallen down her face. She grabs her phone and keys, doesn’t botter changing out of her pajamas, and leaves.

She doesn’t realize she’s driving to Laurel’s place until Thea opens the apartment door.

‘What did he do?’, is Thea’s first question.

‘Nothing.’, Felicity shakes her head. ‘It’s been a couple of bad days.’

Thea guides her inside of the apartment and hugs her tightly. ‘You know how he gets, Felicity. He’ll be back to you in no time.’

‘Sara’s there.’, Felicity’s crying into Thea’s shoulder, but she can’t seem to stop. ‘With him. I… had to leave.’

‘He’ll never cheat on you’, Laurel’s voice startles Felicity. ‘Least of all with Sara.’

‘I shouldn’t have come here’, Felicity realizes. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘No’, the two other women say together.

‘You’ve got this all wrong’, Laurel says next. ‘I promise you.’

‘Totally’, Thea agrees. ‘Come on. Let’s sleep, it’ll be a new day tomorrow.’

○

She doesn’t feel better after she wakes up, but she feels stronger. Like she could handle whatever happens.

Felicity still dreads it, though. She’s still desperately afraid of losing Oliver. But she drives back to the apartment. And she doesn’t let it show, how much it affects her, that Oliver is still on the balcony, even if Sara’s gone. She doesn’t let it show, how much it affects her, seeing the two empty mugs in the kitchen sink, the hoodie Sara was wearing last night thrown over the back of the couch, the third toothbrush in the bathroom, and the stray bobby pins on the sink.

Felicity puts on a brave face, grabs a blanket and heads out to the balcony. She sits down next to Oliver, as close as she can, she covers them with the blanket and she waits.

She waits for a long time. Hours and hours, until the sun sets and darkness installs itself over the city. Then, finally, finally!, Oliver speaks.

‘I have never been as happy as I am with you. I am terrified of loosing you, because that would kill me.’

Felicity doesn’t say anything.

‘I’ve never been afraid of death’, he goes on. ‘Not really. But I’m scared of living in a world without you in it.’

‘You’re not going to lose me’, Felicity sighs.

‘I am’, Oliver answers instantly. ‘Be it either because I will be too slow in saving you, or I’m going to lose your love. I am going to lose you.’

‘God damn it, Oliver’, Felicity can’t help but feel angry. ‘I spent the last 24 hours thinking you wanted to cheat on me with Sara.’

That makes Oliver turn his head towards her. He’s shocked, clearly, even beyond the dark circles, pale skin and exhaustion, Felicity sees that he’s completely shocked.

‘I would never-‘, he tries saying, but Felicity doesn’t let him.

‘So you love me?’

‘More than anything’, Oliver doesn’t hesitate.

‘Than why are you sabotaging our relationship like this?’, Felicity asks as kindly as she can.

He looks like he wants to protest, but she doesn’t let him.

‘Oliver, I’ve spent the past few days terrified that you won’t be coming back to me. And when Sara came, I genuinely thought you will run off with her, again. I…’

She has to stop, and take several deep breaths, and thankfully, Oliver doesn’t say anything.

‘I’m as strong as I can be, my love. But it’s not much if you’re not by my side. I need you, Oliver, as much as you need me. You know this, I know this, everybody knows this. So, please…’

This time, he does ask a very soft ‘What?’

‘Please, Oliver, next time you think about … about us not being together anymore, whatever the reason, please just come and talk to me. And we’ll figure it out together.’

‘I don’t understand’, Oliver blinks at her slowly, ‘how you understand me so well.’

Felicity has to smile at that, even if there are tears roaming freely down her face.

‘It’s a gift’, she says, and Oliver just nods.

‘Okay’, he wraps a hand around her shoulders, bringing their bodies as close together as he can.

‘Okay’, he says again, pushing his face into the crook of her neck, planting a quick kiss on the skin he finds there.

‘Promise?’, Felicity can’t help but insist.

Oliver nods strongly, so she takes that as a promise.

They stay like that for a while longer, wrapped around each other, covered in a blanket despite to cold night outside. There’s not a cloud in sight and the lights of the city make everything very eerie. Felicity loves it, but she can't help the words for escaping her mouth.

‘What did Sara tell you?’

There is a pause from Oliver’s part, and he freezes, completely.

Then, to Felicity’s immense surprise, he whines.

‘That I was being stupid and that she should kick my ass for being stupid and that you should help her.’

Felicity grins. ‘I love you, stupid man.’

○

That night, they fell asleep in the middle of their bed, as close together as they could be. And the next time Oliver had a bad day, he showed up at Felicity’s office a little after noon and requested cuddles. Over all, it was a step forward.


	33. Biker's End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _Maybe you could write a protective/jealous Oliver fic? maybe one when him and Felicity are on their road trip :) :) :) PLLEEEEEASSSE._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After yesterday's angst-fest, here's a cute (ish) quicky.

Oliver wasn’t afraid of a lot of things. Being held at gun point? Easy-peasy. Getting stabbed? A minor setback. Metahuman with unfathomable powers? Must be Tuesday.

Walking into a hole in the wall biker’s diner at the side of the highway didn’t even make his list.

Yet, here he was.

Walking into a biker’s diner, at the side of a highway leading nowhere. The place was packed with bikers, the angry type, big muscled guys wearing leather vests and studs. The only woman in the diner was the waitress behind the counter, who, by the looks of things, could hold her own against these men just fine.

It wasn’t a problem. Oliver didn’t have a problem.

But he had Felicity by his side. Sweet, beautiful, Felicity. With her hair down and her glasses on, wearing a bright pink summer dress and her panda flats.

Needless to say, the whole diner quieted down as soon as they set foot in it. Everybody was staring and Oliver was considering walking right back out, just for Felicity’s sake.

She had no such thought.

‘Oh, it smells delicious’, she said, walking over to the counter with a bounce in her step.

Oliver did a quick scan of his surroundings. There was only one exit, the one they came through, every single person in the diner was tracking Felicity, not one was looking at him, and the wooden chairs seemed old enough, Oliver would be able to break them and use their legs as impromptu weapons.

His hesitation cost him.

There were now three guys surrounding Felicity. She didn’t even make it to the counter.

‘How’s it going, sweet cheeks?’, one of them leered.

‘This is really not the type of place for a woman like you to come in alone’, another one said.

‘My boyfriend-‘, Felicity started, but was interrupted by the third baboon.

‘Is probably a flimsy excuse of a man. Come on, baby girl, we can show you a better time.’

Oliver saw red. He forcefully made his way to Felicity’s side, lightly shoving at the men until he could wrap a protective hand around her waist.

‘Is there a problem?’, Oliver asked, slowly, in what Felicity called his Arrow-voice.

The men started laughing. ‘Looks like we have one with balls.’

‘Ugh’, Felicity groaned, silencing the men. She pushed her way through them, pushing Oliver aside as well.

‘Why do men insist on pissing on their property?’, she muttered under her breath, but everybody in the diner could hear her.

She got to the counter, and even though her back was to Oliver, he knew she was smiling at the waitress behind it.

‘Hello. Could we please get two burgers and fries to go? And do you have milkshakes? I’d really like a strawberry one, please.’

The woman nodded, highly amused. She spared a glance at Oliver.

‘Is your boyfriend causing trouble?’

Felicity snorted. ‘Usually.’

The waitress just shook her head and went in the back, the kitchen, probably.

‘You know’, the man to Oliver’s right said, ‘I don’t think you deserve her. I think she’d be better off with me.’

‘Or me’, the man to his left said.

Oliver sighed. But he controlled himself, in the sense that he didn’t throw the first punch.

He just waited, patiently. He glared, sure, but he calmed his breathing and he relaxed his posture. He also made a miniscule step towards one of the chairs.

That’s when the three men pounced on him.

Oliver didn’t hesitate in fighting back. Still, in the middle of it, he made sure to keep an eye on Felicity.

She was casually leaning back against the counter, watching the fight with a bored and equally disappointed expression.

Thankfully, none of the men paid her any attention. Instead, they all moved to Oliver.

It was tiring, but it wasn’t an incredibly hard thing to do. To put all the men to the floor. There were only about 12 of them.

By the time he was done, Oliver did have a black eye and a split lip, his knuckles were bleeding and his knee was sore, but he also had 12 large bikers groaning at his feet, and a decent pile of broken diner furniture.

He looked up just as the waitress was coming out of the kitchen, takeout bags in her hands. Obviously, she froze.

‘Oh good’, Felicity said, cheerfully, ‘I really am starving.’

The woman started moving towards Felicity, but she was still staring at the mess Oliver made.

Felicity pulled out her check book.

‘What is this place called?’, she asked the waitress.

‘Biker’s End.’

Felicity snorted. ‘Well, that’s ironic.’ She scribbled something down and tore a check, handing it to the waitress.

‘That should cover the repair costs. And the burgers.’

Felicity then took the food and walked towards Oliver. She had to jump over the bodies still groaning on the floor. She did, however, step on the hands of the three men that accosted her at first.

As she reached Oliver’s side, she stood on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. Thankfully, the one that wasn’t hit.

‘Come on love, my virtue has been thoroughly protected, and you need an ice pack.’

‘Do we have ice packs?’, Oliver frowned.

‘Of course’, Felicity rolled her eyes. ‘I knew very well who I was traveling with.’

Oliver grinned and allowed Felicity to drag him out of the diner.


	34. It started under the mistletoe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [captain-hammer-of-asgard](http://captain-hammer-of-asgard.tumblr.com/) asked: _College AU: Felicity's friends make her dress up and go out to a party. She meets Oliver (they have a class together where she admires from afar and he doesnt know he exists) they hook up and Oliver is left wondering who the mystery girl is He eventually finds out of course and they eventually get together! :) or AU a la Hillary Duff Cinderella Story movie with anonymous chatting_  
> 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CHRISTMAS FLUFF! ish. iiiiish.  
> I'm planning on another one, too.

Spending Christmas in a club was depressing, Felicity was aware. Yet, here she was.

It was all her doing, really. Yeah, Barry and Cisco begged for days and Caitlin had to wrestle Felicity into the dress, but she was the one who made them fake IDs, and she was the one who let herself be dragged out of her dorm room, so really, it was all Felicity’s fault.

The club was nice enough. Surprisingly well lit, with a lot of Christmas trees and fairy lights and there was mistletoe everywhere. And the music wasn’t half bad, if you were into the whole… drum’n’base techno shit.

Felicity wasn’t complaining, because she was surrounded by her best friends and the bartender believed she was 21, so there was always wine in her glass.

She was having fun, which was surprising. It’s been a year and a half since the last time Felicity went clubbing. Ever since Cooper. But she was having fun now, for the first time since what felt like forever.

So when she came out of the bathroom, when she was heading back to her friends, when she was stopped by him under an archway, when she looked up and saw the mistletoe… Felicity didn’t fight it.

She let him wrap a hand around her neck and the other around her waist. She let him draw her in, until their bodies were slotted together. She let him press their lips together. And when he licked her lower lip, she opened her mouth and let him in.

When that made him groan, she let him pick her up and push her back against the wall. She let his hands roam over her thighs as she tried her best to get the air she needed. She let him kiss her for a while, until the muscles in her thighs burned with the stress of holding onto him, until she felt blood on her tongue and until she couldn’t breathe anymore.

After he stopped kissing her, he didn’t back up, not immediately. He slowly lowered her feet back on the ground, and straightened her dress. All the while, he kept pressing little kisses on her cheeks and neck.

When he took off his hands off her, he looked at her, for what seemed like the first time.

‘You’re beautiful’, he said. ‘Merry Christmas.’

Felicity smiled. ‘Merry Christmas.’ She also sidestepped him and quickly walked back to her friends.

Who were all staring at her.

‘Did you just make out with Oliver Queen?’, Barry asked, slowly.

‘Yeah’, Felicity breathed out. ‘I sure did.’

●≡●

Everybody knows who Oliver Queen is. Not just the people who were in the same classes with him, not just his teachers and his colleagues.

Everybody in the world knows who Oliver Queen is, considering his parents are one of the richest people in the country.

Felicity shared three classes with Oliver. She saw him three times every week, and he never once saw her. He never looked at her, he never said a word to her, he never touched her, Oliver Queen didn’t know she existed.

Except that now, he did. Sort of. They made out like horny teenagers against a wall in a club. Does that count? Felicity doesn’t know.

She’d like not to think about it. They were on holiday, the campus was empty, Barry and Cisco were still arguing over which New Years Eve party to attend, Felicity really would’ve liked not to think about Oliver Queen.

But it was hard. Borderline impossible. Considering she has been crushing over Oliver Queen for about six months now.

Which was normal. Every straight woman that came in a 100 foot radius of Oliver Queen got a crush on him.

But for Felicity, things were different. She hated him in the beginning. On their first class, when she saw him sitting in the back row, she hated him for what he represented: the rich, spoiled, young celebrity that did nothing to earn his fame.

Then, Oliver opened his mouth, asking pertinent questions, even if they were phrased to sound stupid. And then, Felicity saw him help an old lady across the street a week later. And then, a month later, she saw him in the mall with his sister, helping her pick out a prom dress.

Felicity fell for Oliver then, kinda hard, even if they never actually spoke. It was pretty depressing.

So yes, she was now trying her hardest to not think about his fingertips toying with the line of her underwear, about his rockhard abs under her hands, his tongue in her mouth and his moans against her neck.

No matter how hard she tried to forget the memory, she couldn’t. It’ll take a long time for Felicity to forget that one time she made out with Oliver Queen.

●≡●

Felicity felt like she needed a change for this New Years party.

Well, it was a change back to the change.

When Cooper died, Felicity threw away her camo pants and boots, she died her hair and brought skirts and heels. It was a good change.

Now, she wanted something different, though. Not back to the goth, no, she couldn’t be able to do that. Instead, she brought a gold dress. A very gold, very short dress. Even Caitlin’s jaw dropped when she saw Felicity, Barry and Cisco just stopped functioning.

Felicity looked great, she felt ready to dance all night and party into the new year, so when she stepped into the party the boys chose, she held her head high and she was grinning.

Of course, the first person her eyes land on in the crowded club is Oliver Queen.

Their eyes lock, and for a second, everything is frozen. Then, Oliver frowns and Felicity snaps out of it. She looks away and grabs Caitlin’s hand.

‘It’s safe to say he doesn’t remember me, right? I mean, he tasted like whiskey _and_ vodka, he was probably very drunk, he doesn’t remember me, right?’

Caitlin nods.

It doesn’t make Felicity feel any better. She does a tequila shot, and that does.

●≡●

He’s even drunker than on Christmas Eve.

Felicity can smell it. And she can see it, because he’s right in front of her. His pupils are very dilated, his eyes are red and he’s swaying dangerously.

He’s a foot from her, but she can smell the alcohol on his breath.

After his eyes fell on Felicity, Oliver all but marched to her. But he didn’t kiss her, no. Instead he stared at her.

His eyes roamed all over her face and her body and a couple of times, Oliver extended his arms, like he wanted to touch her. But he didn’t.

After a while, they locked eyes.

‘You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen’, Oliver said, and because of the music, Felicity read his lips more than she heard him.

Tommy Merlyn appeared, then, Oliver’s best friend. He wrapped his hands around Oliver just as he was about to collapse.

After Oliver got his footing back, he still stared at Felicity.

‘You’re the most beautiful thing I have ever seen’, Oliver said, again, and Felicity laughed.

‘Okay, buddy’, Tommy laughed too, ‘let’s get you home.’

Felicity stopped him, by putting a hand on Oliver’s arm. Even though she was wearing heels, she still had to sit on her tippy toes to reach his face. She kissed his cheek and whispered ‘Happy New Year’ into his ear.

Before she left, she winked at Tommy, who has been watching everything amused. Felicity turned around and didn’t look back once.

‘Not much of a make out session, that’, Caitlin raised an eyebrow when Felicity got to her side.

‘No’, she agreed. ‘At least this time he doesn’t have anything to not remember.’

●≡●

When school started back up, Felicity felt oddly giddy. Excited, but she also felt dread.

So when she stepped into the classroom, the first class of the year she shared with Oliver, her heart was beating a mile a minute and she felt her face grow red and she was sweating.

Oliver wasn’t there.

And that was that. Felicity calmed down.

●≡●

Her next class, Tommy Merlyn wordlessly sat down next to her.

Felicity froze, looking at him with wide eyes, but he just smiled and got out his books. He didn’t say anything for the entire lecture, not about Oliver.

They got into a debate, half way through, and the teacher let them have at it. Felicity won. She felt smug about it, but all Tommy did was to narrow his eyes at her.

After the lecture ended, Felicity started packing her things.

‘So’, Tommy said, leaning against the desk. ‘He hasn’t stopped talking about you.’

Felicity blushed, instantly, but she didn’t say anything.

‘Which is funny and depressing’, Tommy went on, ‘because he has no idea who you are. But’, he smirked, ‘now I do.’

She clicked her tongue. ‘You have no idea who I am.’

‘Well I know where to find you’, Tommy grinned. ‘And I could go ask the professor what your name is, if you don’t want to give it to me.’

Felicity hummed, biting on her lower lip. ‘And uh, you… you think he’d like to learn my name?’

‘Oh would he ever’, Tommy rolled his eyes. ‘Not just your name, but every little thing about you. Really, that was a direct quote.’

Felicity smiled, how could she not?

‘Well’, she said, ‘if that is true, even after you tell him what you found out about me-‘

‘And what is that?’, Tommy frowned.

‘I’m a nerd’, Felicity grinned.

Tommy hesitated for a beat. ‘Yeah. Yeah you are.’

‘Not his usual type’, Felicity pointed out, to which he nodded.

‘If he still wants to know my name’, she went on, ‘he should… show up for class.’

Tommy’s jaw dropped. ‘You share classes?’

‘A couple’, Felicity smiled.

‘And he never…’

‘Nope’, Felicity shook her head. ‘As I said, not his usual type.’

‘Well’, Tommy said after a while. ‘Maybe it’s time he changed that.’

Felicity didn’t say anything, she couldn’t, so she just smiled at Tommy one more time and left.

●≡●

‘That is insane’, Caitlin said later that night. ‘Oliver Queen wants to date you.’

‘I’m not getting my hopes up’, Felicity said with authority. ‘He’ll change his mind, realize he doesn’t want to be involved with a nerd, and that will be that.’

Caitlin threw her a look. ‘But that’s not what you want.’

It really, really wasn’t.

●≡●

Oliver didn’t show up for classes the rest of the week. Felicity lost all hope.

And then, the next week, he turned up.

Monday morning, at their 8am class. He was waiting outside of the hall, two cups of coffee in his hands, one of them had a pink tulip wrapped around it.

Even though Felicity was screaming inside, her steps didn’t falter. She didn’t look at Oliver as she walked past him, but that didn’t stop him from putting a soft, very soft hand on her shoulder.

‘Hi’, he breathed out when Felicity met his eyes. ‘You’re still the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. May I please know your name?’

Felicity took a deep breath, which made him take his hand away. She tried not to seem affected by it, and eyed the coffee.

‘Is that for me?’, she asked, and it made Oliver smile.

He wordlessly handed her the cup of coffee, the one with the flower wrapped around it. Felicity took it, and took a spare second to see that where her name was supposed to be, the word ‘dinner?’ was written.

She smiled as she took a sip of coffee, and after that she extended a hand to Oliver.

He shook it, not once looking away from her eyes.

‘My name is Felicity. Felicity Smoak. And you really can’t afford to skip more classes, so come on.’

She didn’t let go of his hand as she dragged him inside the hall. They sat next to each other, and really, Oliver didn’t let go of her hand for the entire lecture, even if that meant he didn’t take any notes. Felicity knew she was going to be the one to lend them to him.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Barry and Cisco both handing a grinning Caitlin a couple of bills. She laughed under her breath. It made Oliver grin, even though he couldn’t possibly know why she was laughing about.


	35. "The price of freedom is high"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Person A and Person B meet during a costume party. They accidentally wear matching costumes and win the couples costume contest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MERRY WHATEVER-IT-IS-YOU'RE-CELEBRATING  
> I LOVE YOU

Felicity didn’t understand, like, not at all, why QC decided on having a costume party for Christmas. It didn’t make a lot of sense to her, to have the venue filled with tinsel and mistletoe, a Santa photo-booth in the corner, Christmas themed snacks and drinks… and a bunch of slave-Leia’s running around.

But, alas, here she was. With a glass of cider in her hand, smiling politely and making small talk with her bosses and co-workers, rolling her eyes every time someone asked her who she was dressed as.

Seriously. It was frustrating. It wasn’t that hard.

Felicity wore a brown wig, styled to fall in curls down her shoulders. She had on a dark brown military suit, 1940s accurate. Her lips were as red as her nails, and the SSR pins were glinting in the fake light of the room.

It wasn’t that hard to recognize Peggy Carter. But it appeared nobody in the entire payroll of QC knew who she was. Felicity thought that was depressing.

So she made her way to the bar and asked for a glass of wine.

‘Drinking on the job, Agent Carter?’, a smooth male voice said from behind her. She didn’t recognize it, but really, she was very excited for someone to finally get it.

‘I’m not on the job’, she said, slowly turning around.

Her jaw dropped when she saw Captain America.

Well, it was someone dressed as Captain America. She didn’t recognize the man behind the mask, but he was smirking, and his shield was glinting so Felicity smiled as well.

‘You’re the first person to recognize my costume.’

The smirk fell from his face. ‘What, really? Everybody recognized mine.’

Felicity rolled her eyes. ‘Of course they did.’

‘Well’, the man smiled, ‘it’s a shame, because it is a pretty great costume.’

‘Thank you’, Felicity said, and he was about to say something, when he was interrupted by a small… demon.

It was a girl-demon. Her eyes were black, her skin was pale, there were dark veins under her eyes and her clothes were stained with blood.

‘Stupid brother’, the young woman punched Cap in the arm, ‘you didn’t tell me you have a date for the couple’s costume contest.’

They were both looking at her, but Felicity couldn’t get past one thing.

‘Seriously? A couple’s costume contest? For Christmas? Why? I don’t get it!’

‘I know, right?’, the demon-lady nodded. ‘I told them it was stupid, but they thought they’d be _special_ this year.’

‘They?’, Felicity frowned.

‘The party planners’, Cap swiftly interrupted, throwing a look at his sister, before smiling back at Felicity. ‘So, about that contest.’

Felicity chuckled, but she felt short when she saw his earnest eyes.

‘You’re serious?’

‘Oh, yeah’, Cap breathed out. ‘We are going to kick their asses.’

‘We don’t know each other’, Felicity pointed out.

‘Sure we do’, he shrugged. ‘You’ve known me since before the serum. And we’re in love, of course we know each other.’

Felicity couldn’t help but grin.

‘That settles it’, the demon said, clapping her hands. ‘I’ll go sign you up.’

She turned around to leave, but stopped after one step. ‘Uh, what’s your name?’

Felicity laughed. ‘Felicity Smoak.’

‘And you’re dressed as…’

‘Agent Peggy Carter’, Cap said. ‘Captain America’s date.’

⃝

Felicity thought she was going to have a heart attack when she went up on stage. But, apparently, the tequila shot she did with Cap right before they went on, it helped her nerves.

So here they were. Captain America and Peggy Carter, sitting hand in hand, on a stage in front of the entire payroll of QC. Welp.

Felicity smiled, though. Cap kept reminding her to do it, by squeezing her hand. Because they were holding hands.

They were completely in character, from the second they took that first step on stage. Cap kept looking lovingly to her, his shield now safely secured on his back, and Felicity kept stealing glances at him, always keeping her back straight and chin up. Just like Peggy.

Cap’s sister, the little demon whom Felicity met before, she was the one presenting the contest. Dead master of ceremonies, she called herself. When she asked Felicity what her name was, she surprised everybody by answering ‘Agent Peggy Carter’ in an English accent. Turns out that one acting elective she took in college was useful for something.

Cap took her lead, and he introduced himself as ‘Steve Rogers, ma’am, pleasure to meet you.’

While the crowd applauded, Felicity shared a look with Cap. Steve. She still had no idea what his real name was. It was exciting.

The she-demon did the same thing with the rest of the couples. Han and Leia, Thing 1 and Thing 2, two pieces of Tetris, Joker and Harley, and the frankly awful piece of bacon and friend egg.

When the questions started, Felicity felt like she could use another shot of tequila. But then Steve squeezed her hand, and when she turned to look at him, he was smiling, softly, so softly, looking lovingly at her. Just like Cap looks at Peggy.

⃝

The contest consisted of a set of questions, that the couples were supposed to answer on a card, without their significant other seeing it. They’d both turn it around at the same time, and if the answer was the same, the couple would get a point.

And then the she-devil would ask them about it, briefly, and the couple would talk together, all for comic relief and entertainment.

Felicity and Steve didn’t talk about it, but she answered the first question as Peggy would have. And Cap did as well, he answered from Steve’s perspective.

Suddenly, this was starting to be fun.

⃝ 

> **Where did you two meet?**  
>  Peggy:  War  
>  Steve: War _  
> _

‘On the battle field.’

‘Oh, Steve’, Felicity rolled her eyes. ‘Don’t be so dramatic, it wasn’t actually the battle field, it was a training facility.’

‘It felt like a battle field’, Cap muttered under his breath, and Felicity smirked.

‘That’s because you were a tiny man with three pages of medical issues. Still, it was a bit of fun, wasn’t it?’

He only hesitated for a second. ‘I guess some parts weren’t completely horrible.’

⃝ 

> **How did you get together?**  
>  Peggy:  I kissed him before he went and scarified himself  
>  Steve: I asked her on a date before I crashed a plane

‘You still owe me that dance, mister.’

‘That I do’, he grinned, smiling bashfully and looking down.

‘Steve, I have a question.’, Felicity blinked innocently up at him. ‘Did you ever feel bad about the fact that I made the first move?’

‘I was just about to ask that’, the she-devil said, winking at Felicity.

Cap let go of Felicity’s hand in order to wrap it around her shoulders, bringing their sides together.

‘I never felt bad about that’, he said. ‘I felt very glad about it. You’re stronger than me, braver. I was just happy you had the guts to make the first move. I never would have.’

Everybody cooed at that, and Felicity genuinely blushed. So she tucked her face under Steve’s arm, which only made everyone go even crazier.

⃝  

> **What’s his/her favorite hobby?**  
>  Peggy:  I enjoy shooting at the range, and he likes training with his shield  
>  Steve: I like my shield. She likes her Walther PPK.

‘Not gonna lie’, she-wolf said, ‘your relationship sounds pretty dangerous.’

‘I mean’, Felicity chuckled, only slightly ashamed, ‘out relationship started on the sidelines of war, between Nazis, gunshots, super-serums and alien artifacts. What do you expect?’

‘It makes it stronger, though’, Cap said. ‘I think it makes us stronger. We survived through that, we can survive anything.’

Felicity’s smile fell of her face. ‘But you didn’t survive’, she sniffed. ‘Not really.’

He kissed the top of her head. ‘We’ll do better in the next life.’

‘Oh my god’, she-devil breathed out. ‘You’re ridiculous.’

**⃝**

> **Most embarrassing moment together?**  
>  Peggy:  I walked in on him kissing Private Lorraine  
>  Steve: In my defense, the blonde lady kissed me.

‘Well you could have pushed her away’, Felicity glared.

‘I would have, but you walked in before I had a chance to!’

‘Sure’, she rolled her eyes. ‘Pretty convenient story.’

‘You know, it is funny, Agent Carter’, he smirked, suddenly gleeful, ‘That you are this jealous, considering we weren’t dating at the time.’

‘It’s not funny’, she pointed out, ‘because you know very well I liked you long before I made a move.’

Steve grinned. ‘Not gonna lie, I like that. I didn’t like how you shot me after, though.’

‘I didn’t shoot you’, Felicity rolled her eyes, taking only half a second to figure out how to get the shield off his back. ‘I shot this’, she pointed the shield in his face. ‘And you didn’t get hurt, did you?’

‘You didn’t know that it'll be safe! I could’ve got hurt!’, Steve shrieked, taking the shield away from her with more force than necessary.

She took it back. ‘Of course I knew that, Stark manufactured it, of course it was going to work.’

Steve rolled his eyes, but made no move to take the shield back. ‘You put way too much faith in Stark.’

‘Howard, yes’, Felicity put the shield on her arm, and wrapped the other around his waist. ‘I trust Howard with my life. You’re being biased, because of his son.’

He opened his mouth, but Felicity cut him off. ‘Don’t go there, I know your issues with Tony, but you don’t know Howard like I do.’

‘Fine’, Steve gritted his teeth. ‘I trust you.’

Felicity grinned at that. She felt bold, with the shield on her arm. So she stretched her neck and kissed his cheek, at least that small part that wasn’t covered by the mask.

‘Thank you, dear’, she said sweetly, and he rolled his eyes. But then he looked at her, that goofy loving smile and again, everybody cooed.

⃝

‘Last question, guys’, she-devil said. ‘We’re down to Cap and Peggy, and Leia and Han. Whichever couple gets this question right will win our prize.’

Felicity didn’t even know there was a prize. Apparently, they would win a date at a very fancy new restaurant. Which would be weird, considering she didn’t know the guy that was currently holding her.

But he grinned when she looked at him. ‘We’ve got this’, Steve said, going as far as winking.

Well then, Felicity thought. Let’s do this.  

> **What’s your biggest regret?**  
>  Peggy:  Not getting that dance  
>  Steve: Not getting that dance

‘You just had to go and be a hero’, Felicity sighed.

‘That’s what you love most about me’, Cap smiled down at her. ‘There were a lot of lives at stake. The price of freedom is always high. ’

‘I know, but you left me all alone, surrounded by cocky alpha males who believed the best thing I could ever do was to get them lunch.’

He chuckled at that. ‘You showed them, didn’t you? You made SHIELD.’

‘Yes I did.', Felicity grinned. 'Are you proud of me?’

‘I sure am’, Steve smiled, and replicating her move from before, he kissed her cheek.

⃝

Leia and Han screwed up. Which meant…

‘And the winners of our contest’, she-devil yelled into her microphone, ‘our very own superheroes, Agent Peggy Carter and Captain America, Felicity Smoak and Oliver Queen!’

Felicity’s jaw dropped, just as Steve picked her up and spun her around.

Steve.

Not Steve.

Oliver.

Holy shit.

Her boss.

Her boss’ boss.

CEO.

What the hell!?!

When her feet touched the ground, he didn’t stop holding her. Instead, he dipped her low, and kept her there.

Their faces were two inches apart, and she could feel his breath on her face.

In a spark of inspiration, Felicity realized she still had the shield. So she lifted it up and covered their faces with it.

People probably thought they were kissing, considering how loud they were cheering. Her left foot was in the air.

‘What the hell?’, was all she managed to say.

‘I apologize for not saying who I was, but you wouldn’t have agreed with it if you knew.’

He was grinning, the bastard. Felicity used her spare hand to take off his helmet. And yep, there he was. In all his glory, Oliver Queen.

Two inches from her face.

‘You can let go of me now’, Felicity gulped.

It only made him grin harder, but he did manhandle her up.

⃝

Felicity wasn’t proud of it, but she ran out of there. She was embarrassed beyond belief.

She never spoke with Oliver before, because they never had any reason to interact. He was the CEO of the company, she was a mere IT specialist. And then… that happened.

She was so embarrassed.

But thankfully, it was the weekend. So Felicity could spend the two days locked away in her apartment, ignoring all the texts and e-mails that her coworkers sent.

Apparently, she was the talk of the entire firm.

Great. Just great.

⃝

Monday was torture. Everybody stared at her, until she got into the apparent privacy of her office. Then, it was only the sporadic EA who actually had the nerve to come and ask her about it.

Felicity did her best to dodge the questions. It felt like it was all that she ever did that day.

⃝

She was five minutes away from leaving for the day when she got the text.

_You ran away before I could get your number, Agent Carter._

Felicity sighed. She didn’t really expect Oliver to go through the employee records and get her number, but it didn’t surprise her that he did. She heard stories about how stubborn he was.

_To: Oliver  
Are we still doing that? It’s weird, Mr. Queen._

_From: Oliver  
Please call me Oliver._

_To: Oliver  
It’s still weird, Oliver_

She got to her car before he answered.

_From: Oliver  
I did apologize for making it weird. But I would still like to take you out on that date._

Felicity fought against herself, and didn’t text him back.

⃝

That was her mistake, because as she got to work the next morning, she got the call. There was something wrong with the CEO’s computer, and since Felicity was the best in the department, she was sent to fix it.

Even though she was blushing furiously, she held her back straight and her chin up. Just like Peggy.

‘I am sorry about this, as well’, Oliver smiled at her. ‘I promise I’ll leave you alone after this.’

She raised an eyebrow. ‘After I fix your computer?’

‘Oh, it doesn’t need fixing’, he waved his hand. ‘I took out the internet cable.’

She facepalmed at that.

‘I just really want to take you out on that date.’, he said in a lowered voice.

‘Why?’, Felicity groaned. ‘Good god, why?’

‘Because I like you.’

‘No’, she glared at him. ‘You never even spoke with me, if you think about it. You spoke with Peggy.’

‘I have never met a woman’, he said oddly serious, ‘who understood and shared my love of superheroes.’

‘That’s not a good enough of a reason, Mr. Queen’.

He narrowed his eyes at that, but Felicity went on.

‘You’re my boss! My boss’s boss, actually. I’m pretty sure it’s against the rules.’

‘It’s not’, he said with force, tilting his head afterwards. ‘And if it is, I’ll just change the rules.’

She snorted at that, and it surprised even herself.

‘That’s not a very Steve Rogers thing to do’, she couldn’t help but point out.

It made him smile. Just as Steve did at the party.

‘I’m not Steve Rogers. I’m Oliver Queen, and you’re Felicity Smoak. And I would really like to take you on a date. Because I had a lot of fun with you the other night, and because Digg has been trying to set us up for months.’

Felicity’s jaw dropped.

Digg was a good friend of hers, ever since high school. She knew he took the job of being Oliver’s bodyguard, but he never spoke to her about it. This was brand new information.

But…

‘You trust Digg’, Oliver smiled. ‘Probably as much as I do. So you’re going to say yes, because you realize he’s never wrong.’

Oliver was right. Felicity and Digg knew each other for about a decade, and never has he been wrong.

She smiled, before she could control herself. It made him grin.

‘So, first day of Christmas?’

Felicity nodded, before her brain caught up with her.

‘No, wait, I’m having dinner at Digg’s.’

Oliver grinned harder. ‘I know. I was thinking we could have lunch together, then see a movie, and if all goes well, you’ll help me pick up a present for Digg and Lyla.’

‘And if all doesn’t go well?’, Felicity couldn’t help but ask.

Oliver shrugged. ‘We’ll just have to suck it up, cause I am not giving up on Lyla’s cooking because of one bad date.’

‘Fair enough’, Felicity couldn’t help but laugh, a swarm of butterflies dancing in her chest.

⃝

For lunch, Felicity wore a gold dress that was slightly similar to one of Peggy’s. Oliver’s buttons were shaped as Cap’s shield.

They got to Digg and Lyla’s wearing matching ugly Christmas sweaters and with a joint gift.

When Digg pointed out the mistletoe that they were sitting under, Oliver didn’t hesitate in kissing Felicity. It wasn't even the first time he did it that day. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so these last two weren't very Christmas-related, I admit. But. I mean. They were fluffy? Ish? A weebit? O:)


	36. An abundance of tiny prompts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As you might have noticed, I haven't posted since Christmas, and really, I haven't written any olicity since then either.
> 
> So in order to get myself out of the funk, I did an experiment today. So here are 10 prompts, tiny ones, a couple of houndred words each, just to get my flow going again.
> 
> Hopefully, these helped and we'll be back to normal :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for still being here, my dears. I hope you have an amazing year!

 

> **[1022bridgetp](http://1022bridgetp.tumblr.com/) Maybe a fic about Oliver being sick (and utterly adorable) and Felicity would take care of him? At the end she would get ill as well and they would stay in bed for days watching TV and play board games :)**

‘You know, for a big bad superhero you sure whine a lot.’

Felicity was smirking as she spoke to him, already dressed for work, on heels and with her hair perfectly styled. As a response, Oliver could, obviously, only whine.

He felt awful. He couldn’t get out of bed, even though his clothes were too sweaty, sticking to his skin. His head hurt, it was hard to swallow and there was a constant pressure behind his eyelids.

‘I’m dying’, Oliver managed to rasp out.

‘You’re not’, Felicity didn’t miss a beat. ‘You’re just feverish and overly dramatic.’

‘Don’t leave me.’ Oliver did his best to pout. She always said it was adorable. Now, she just rolled her eyes.

‘You’re fine.’

He was not fine, he was very so NOT FINE.

By the time lunch came around, Oliver wanted to set himself on fire. Except that he was already on fire, while shivering and feeling cold.

Felicity came back just as Oliver managed to step out of his clothes.

‘What the hell are you doing?’, she had the audacity to look angry, even if she was the one who left him!!

‘Showering’, Oliver said, bitterly. ‘I smell dead.’

She had no answer to that, because he did, he really did.

Oliver made it to the bathroom, but just barely. He had to sit down on the toilet seat to catch his breath and calm his soaring muscles.

He turned the water up to very high, which didn’t feel too good on his hand. He turned it to very cold, which felt worse. So he left it somewhere in the middle, and didn’t even bother trying to get into the tub, he went into the shower stall and… sat down.

And closed his eyes, because everything hurt.

He may have fallen asleep. Maybe.

Because he was startled when he felt fingers running through his hair. Felicity was naked, crouching down next to him in the shower stall and she was shampooing his hair.

‘I’m dying’, he rasped out for the second time that day.

‘I’m here to save you’, Felicity was smiling. It made him feel better. Marginally.

She didn’t go back to work that day. Oliver still felt like he was dying, but Felicity’s hand was cool against his forehead and her legs were worm over his, so he thought maybe he was dying just a little bit slower.

↘↖

When Felicity got sick two days later, she said it was Oliver’s fault. It probably was, so that’s why he made sure to stay home with her. For a week or so.

 

 

> **Anon: Do you know a song[Mambo n. 5 by Lou Bega](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EK_LN3XEcnw)? "A little bit of Monica in my life. A little bit of Erika by my side." Can Tommy sing that to Oliver? Maybe on Oliver's wedding or his birthday or something like that?**

Oliver didn’t really want a bachelor party. Really. But he couldn’t argue with Tommy, especially when Digg sang his tune, and Roy and Barry and hell, even Felicity.

So Oliver got a bachelor party. Well. It was a bachelor pub crawl.

It started at Big Belly Burger, with greasy food and bottles of cheep beer.

It went on to a place called ‘The Bomb’, where they only had jagerbombs. Of course.

Then, there was a pub where they sat back with some light beers.

After that, it was a very classy bar on top of a skyscraper, where they had vodka and martinis.

Then, they stopped at McDonalds. A drive-through McDonalds. And they ate their food in the limo. Classy as hell, yeah.

The next stop was another pub, but this time they had tequila shots, which they drank down with beer.

Then there was a karaoke place. That… was the worst part, really. Because by this point, Oliver was pretty drunk. But, unlike his college days, he didn’t feel the urge to do stupid things. Instead, he just really missed Felicity.

Tommy, however, was very up for doing stupid things. Like having all the men in the party up on stage, absolutely butchering that idiotic song about women and having a little bit of them in your life.

Oliver didn’t know what urge was stronger: the one to hide under a table in embarrassment, the one to kill his friends, the one to throw up or the one to run to Felicity.

By the time they got to Verdant, where the bachelorette party was happening, Oliver swore revenge on Tommy. He didn’t know how he was going to do it, but it was going to be painful. Gruesomely so.

↘↖

A couple of years later, when it’s time for Oliver to organize Tommy’s bachelor party, he pays a great deal of attention (and money) to make sure that every bar, restaurant, diner and club they step foot in is only playing Lou Bega’s song while they’re there. Sweet revenge.

 

 

> **Anon: Felicity pulls a catwoman and tries to rob Oliver AU**

Oliver wasn’t proud of it, but he yelped when the cat lady landed in front of him.

A really bad thing for the Arrow to do, especially when he was fully geared up, patrolling in the middle of the night, but she just came out of nowhere.

And landed in front of him. The closest building was a good 30 feet away. It was impressive for such a small woman.

And it was a woman, clearly. With the black leather squeezing feminine curves, with red lipstick, curly blonde hair and a wicked smirk.

Oliver heard about her, of course he did. Everybody heard of Cat Woman. He had half a mind, a while back, to actually go after her. But he didn’t, because after a bit of research, Oliver found out that she only went after men with some sort of track record against women: known rapists, rapists that weren’t caught, horrible misogynists, men who was sexual harassment cases filed against them, and so on. And she never killed them, just barely maimed them.

So why the hell was she accosting him?

‘May I help you?’, he asked slowly.

‘Sure, hot stuff’, Cat Woman sneered. ‘I need all your money.’

Oliver tilted his head. ‘No.’

She pouted. ‘Then, I need your bow.’

Oliver snorted. ‘No.’

‘Your virginity?’, she asked, somewhat hopefully.

Oliver didn’t even bother answering, he just laughed a lot.

She pouted some more, shuffling around. But when she looked up at him, Oliver was surprised to see some hesitance in her eyes.

‘Then I need your help.’

That made him pause.

‘Got in a bit of trouble with my ex boyfriend’, she went on. ‘He didn’t take the breakup very well. He kinda wants to kill me.’

‘I know you’re capable of taking care of yourself’, and it was the truth, he’s seen footage of her fighting, she was a hurricane.

And she was blushing.

‘Well, yeah, but I can’t protect all the other girls he’s going to go after, can I? So we should just stop him before that.’

Oliver sighed.

‘If this is some kind of a ploy, Cat Woman-‘

‘Nuh-uh’, she shook her head. ‘Promise it’s not!’

Then she took off her mask and, wow, she was a really beautiful woman.

‘Call me Felicity’, she smiled, blushing slightly.

Well then…

↘↖

Turns out Felicity’s ex boyfriend was Batman.

Turns out, she’s a little… uh… mentally challenged.

Not that she’s stupid, no, Felicity is quite brilliant, but the problem lies more on the side of... she needs to take medication and sometimes, she forgets to.

Well, Oliver will just have to hang around and remind her of them. Forever.

 

 

> **Anon: Olicity/team arrow roy/dig/felicity/oliver. For Roys bday he ask the team for a family picture at one of those fancy store places. They all agree Roy wants them all in Red ;)**

‘Felicity, this really isn’t a good idea.’, Oliver tried for the billionth time.

‘It’s a great idea’, she grinned. ‘Now shut up and put on the sweater.

It was a horrible sweater. Well, it wasn’t that bad, it was just a simple sweater. But it was bright red. Just as the pants Felicity picked up for him. And shoes.

Oliver sighed.

‘I do care about Roy’, he said, ‘and I am incredibly grateful for his sacrifice, and devastated because of it… but is this really necessary?’

‘He’s gonna love it’, Felicity all but shrieked.

Oliver sighed. And pulled on the sweater.

↘↖

The only comfort Oliver had was that he wasn’t the only one. They were all, from head to toe, wearing the obnoxiously bright red. Felicity and Thea, Digg and Laurel. And Christmas was around the corner, so people were only staring at them mildly amused, not like they were some crazy mismatched family.

The guy at the photo studio that Felicity picked laughed for a full 10 minutes, and he kept saying how great it was. The photographer liked them so much, he threw in some headshots as well, free of charge.

Oliver had to admit, the picture was kind of hilarious. Completely out of their comfort zone, but they were smiling and no lie about it, they looked happy.

So Felicity sent it to Roy, with a ‘wish you were here’ card attached.

And, well, Oliver got over the humiliation pretty fast, because it was that picture that made Roy come back to Starling.

 

 

> **Anon: Olicity/Snowbarry- "Its Saint Patrick's Day Green beer pong at Oliver and thea's loft.. Team arror vs team flash (heavy flirty drunkeness and Blackmail by Dig)**

Oliver doesn’t know how he gets roped up into these things. It probably had something to do with Felicity’s eyelashes and Barry’s grin.

But here they were.

Late one night, or very early in the morning, in the otherwise deserted Verdant, playing beer pong.

Team Arrow vs. Team Flash, as Felicity and Cisco dubbed it.

It wasn’t fair, Oliver thought, because Barry couldn’t get drunk. That didn’t stop him from trying.

↘↖

‘For someone who has perfect aim with an arrow, you sure do suck at this’, Cisco pointed out.

Oliver grumbled, as he chugged down the bear.

↘↖

‘Caitlin, you’re freakishly good at this’, Felicity pointed out. The doctor grinned.

‘I never played before’, Caitlin winked. ‘Now drink up!’

Felicity leaned on the table as she drank her beer.

↘↖

‘How about a pee break?’, Digg suggested and they all ran to the bathrooms.

Of course, by the time Oliver got there, Barry was already done. Cisco slipped just as he was getting inside the stall, but thankfully, he didn’t fall.

… He kept humming Single Ladies as he peed. It was distracting.

↘↖

After the third bathroom break, they switched the beer with tequila.

Bad. Bad move.

↘↖

‘I don’t feel so good’, Cisco was the first one to say it.

‘Suck it up, Ramon’, Caitlin all but growled, shoving the drink in his hand.

Apparently, Caitlin got weirdly competitive when she was drunk. It was kind of scary.

↘↖

‘This stuff is not as strong as that Russian thing’, Digg told Oliver at one point.

He raised an eyebrow. ‘You’re swaying, Digg.’

‘Shut up, Queen.’

Digg drank the vodka, but he was very unhappy about it.

↘↖

‘The world is a better place with two Olivers’, Felicity grinned, before drinking another shot.

‘And two Barrys!’, Caitlin agreed.

‘My mind is… going places’, Cisco said, confused and hesitant, staring straight at Caitlin’s chest.

She halfheartedly swatted at his face.

‘There are already two of those, Cisco.’

↘↖

‘Children, you’re drunk’, a very stern Digg told Caitlin and Cisco.

They nodded.

‘Digg, you’re on the floor’, Oliver couldn’t help but point out.

‘Never said I wasn’t, man. Never said I wasn’t.’

↘↖

‘You okay, Oliver?’, Barry asked.

He appreciated the concerned, but... ‘Felicity’s fine.’

No, that’s not what he wanted to say.

‘I’m fine.’

‘Yes you are’, Felicity giggled. 'Damn fine.'

↘↖

‘We should probably stop’, Barry tried.

They all sang a chorus of ‘no.’

Barry sighed. ‘We should have probably stopped a while ago.’

They all sang a chorus of ‘yes’.

↘↖

Caitlin was the first one to give up. And she dragged Cisco down with her.

Literally. Caitlin lost her footing, and tried to find purchase on Cisco, and they both ended up on the ground, him under her.

They were asleep in two seconds flat.

‘Well that’s embarrassing’, Felicity giggled, before crumbling to the floor.

Oliver tried to help her up, but it wasn’t… going very well. He gave up, and just laid down next to her.

↘↖

Oliver woke up with the biggest of headaches, with Felicity’s head on his stomach, with Cisco’s snores echoing in the empty club, and with Thea laughing her ass off and taking pictures.

‘Tequila is bad’, Felicity moaned against his stomach. ‘Kill it with arrows.’

‘Anything for you.’

Turns out, the alcohol doesn’t completely leave your system if you sleep it off for awhile.

 

 

> **Anon: they decide to take a break from having sex like bunnies and they bet about who is gonna lose it first.**

‘Why are we doing this, again?’, Oliver asks, Felicity tucked away at his side on the couch. There’s some tv show they’re supposed to be watching, but Oliver’s too distracted.

‘We like CSI, so we’re watching CSI and imagining Barry dissing it.’

‘No, I mean’, Oliver shifts slightly, ‘that other thing.’

There’s a pause.

‘That thing where we don’t have sex?’, Felicity asks and he hates how innocent she sounds.

‘Yeah. That.’

‘Because we were getting ridiculous’, Felicity shrugs. ‘I mean, really, we had sex in my office! In the middle of the day. Twice! That can’t be normal.’

‘Uh, well-‘

‘We have a healthy relationship, Oliver’, she goes on, tone very serious, ‘and while sex in a relationship is healthy, there’s a point where it’s just too much. So we stopped having sex to prove to ourselves that our relationship is strong even without having sex in odd places at very inappropriate times.’

Oliver sighs. ‘Why did I sign up for that?’

‘Cause you love me’, Felicity says, very mockingly, patting his leg. ‘Now shhh, they’re about to say who’s the killer.’

↘↖

Oliver was mostly okay with it. During the day. When she was at work and he was at work. The Foundry was okay, too, because that was their usual norm.

Oliver’s problems appeared in the morning, or in the evening, or, generally, when they were in the vicinity of the bed.

Because Felicity’s pajamas were beautiful, and he knew how beautiful they looked scattered around the floor. And in the morning, she always kissed his neck (because morning breath, ew, Oliver, no). And before they went to sleep, she always snuggled up to him.

But Oliver wasn’t going to cave. It was her idea, so she’s going to be the one to put a stop to this stupid nonsense.

He jerked off in the shower. Which wasn’t a big deal. But he made sure to do it when Felicity was home, and he was always as loud as possible.

She kept giving him the stink eye. Good.

Of course, she retaliated by wearing only his favorite dresses, or very short ones and sometimes, she conveniently forgot to grab a towel before getting into the shower and she started drinking her coffee through a straw and …

Yeah, it was hard. But Oliver didn’t cave.

↘↖

Felicity ended it because of the stupidest of things.

Popsicles.

She ended it because Oliver got some popsicles.

She stared as he started eating, and after he was done, she just… whined.

Then she stood up, took her clothes off in a rush, right there, in the middle of the kitchen, and marched to the bedroom.

‘Oliver!’, she screamed. ‘Sex!’

Well, he didn’t need to be told twice.

 

 

> **Anon: Hey I woke up with the idea of a secretive Olive in a walk in closet. He goes to a pair of shoes and breaks the heel. When a very pregnant Felicity comes in and finds them he hangs her a pair of flats and she's grateful.**

Oliver was very glad that Felicity was pregnant. Incredibly glad. He was the happiest man on Earth.

Except when he wasn’t, and he wanted to stab his eye with a fork.

This morning, he was subjected to 15 minutes of his wife ranting about shoes. More specifically, about heels. About how she could still wear some of her favorite dresses, but there were dresses that had to be worn with heels, and they hurt and…

Oh my god, Oliver wanted to stab his eye with a fork.

He didn’t, though. He had to be the supportive husband here.

So he marched into their dresser and picked up a couple of pairs of high heeled shoes, and Oliver violently tore them apart. Well, he tore the heels apart from the actual shoes.

‘You’re insane’, Felicity breathed out from the doorway.

‘You were having a breakdown over heels.’, Oliver pointed out. He also handed her a pair of flats shoes, the color kind of matching the dress she was wearing.

She was grateful, at that moment, but a couple of months later, Oliver’s actions came back to haunt him, when Felicity had to repurchase her collection of heels.

Oh, well. There were worse fates.  

 

 

> **Roxanne: Could you write one where Ollie and Roy are like both trying to spend time with felicity? And felicity can't manage to spend time equally with both ? And both Roy and Ollie get jealous ? ( platonic Roy / felicity with fluffy ollicity?**

‘Caitlin, I need your help.’

‘Oh, that doesn’t sound good’, the doctor frowned at her phone. ‘What’s happening, how can we help?’

‘No-no’, Felicity said in a rush. ‘I need _your_ help.’

Well, that changed things. Caitlin waved the boys off and took the phone down the hall, to a more secluded room.

‘What’s up, Felicity?’

‘You’re friends with Cisco, right?’, Felicity started, very hesitant.

‘Of course.’

‘And you’re friends with Barry, right?’

‘Obviously, Felicity, what’s this about?’

‘And, I mean, you spend time together, right? The three of you?’

Caitlin was utterly confused, but she voiced her affirmative answer either way.

‘But you also spend one on one time, right?’, Felicity went on. ‘I mean, just you and Cisco, and just you and Barry. Right? And it’s nice that way, right? Is it?’

Caitlin paused for a second. ‘If this is some weird way of asking me if we’re in a threesome…’

Felicity shrieked. So loud that Caitlin had to remove the phone from her ear.

‘No’, Felicity said with finality. ‘I just… Oliver and Roy are … I mean… they’re very jealous men.’, she whined.

‘I thought…’, Caitlin frowned, ‘I thought you weren’t dating either of them.’

‘I’m not’, she yelped. ‘I mean, Oliver might be trying, but… no, I’m not. We’re just friends. Good friends, best friends, even’, Felicity babbled breathlessly.

‘But we’re busy people, you know? Not only do we have our nighttime activities, but we all have day jobs and let me tell you, being Oliver Queen’s EA is nerve-wracking and I really…’, she took a deep breath. ‘I can’t handle this, Caitlin. They’re… like… fighting over me, over who gets to spend time with me. It’s ridiculous.’

‘Well’, Caitlin pondered. ‘Who do _you_ want to spend time with more?’

‘At this point?’, Felicity sighed. ‘Neither, to be honest.’

‘Well that’s your answer’, the doctor helpfully supplied. ‘You should tell them they’re ridiculous and that until they get their jealousy in check, you will be your own person and choose who you spend your time with: neither of them.’

‘That’s….’, Felicity took a deep breath. ‘That’s actually kind of smart.’

‘I do have my moments’.

Felicity giggled.

‘And I can’t stress this enough’, Caitlin said, ‘I’m not in a threesome with Barry and Cisco.’

There was a pause.

‘Not that I would mind it, actually’, Caitlin got a chance to say, before she heard a very loud crash coming from the Cortex.

… Serves them well for listening in on private conversations.

 

 

> **[magsimags](http://magsimags.tumblr.com/) olicity going to Felicity's MIT reunion.  
>  ** _[changed it to highschool]_

‘That’s 10’, Felicity grumbled under her breath.

‘What?’, Oliver innocently asked, sipping on his champagne.

‘That was the 10th woman who acted like she didn’t know we were dating, saying it was weird for me to bring my former boss as a plus one.’

Oliver chuckled. ‘Felicity’, he said sweetly, ‘this is your highschool reunion. I think you’re supposed to be jealous of your former colleagues, not of me.’

She kept grumbling under her breath, annoyed. She knew this was going to be a fiasco, but it was ridiculous, really. Just last week, Felicity and Oliver made the front page of three different national tabloids. You’d think these stupid floozies would remember who she was.

‘Mr. Queen!’, a new voice said, and Felicity looked up to see Mr. Buford, the highschool’s principal.

He turned to her. ‘And… I’m sorry, sweetheart, I don’t remember your name.’

‘Felicity Smoak’, she glared. ‘CEO of Palmer Tech.’

‘That sounds familiar.’

Felicity snorted. ‘Maybe because last year, I donated 500.000$ worth of tech to the school. Well, my company did.’

Mr. Buford looked flabergastered. Felicity said some lame excuse about going to powder her nose and hightailed it out of there, out of the gym, and onto the somewhat still familiar hallways.

Five minutes later, Oliver still didn’t come to find her, and there was a woosh that made her hair a mess. Sure enough, Barry was in front of her.

‘There’s an issue’, he said.

‘You’re in Vegas!’, Felicity shrieked.

‘The world’s ending’, Barry winced.

‘Oh, thank god!’

Barry was looking at her weirdly. Which… yeah. ‘I’ll go get Oliver.’

↘↖

Oliver was still talking to the principal. She marched right up to them.

‘Excuse me, my love’, she grabbed a hold of Oliver’s hand. ‘There’s an issue, really nasty one, we have to go now. Barry’s pretty frazzled.’

Oliver gulped, made a halfhearted excuse to bid the principal a polite goodbye, and guided her out of the gym.

‘What’s up?’, he asked half way through.

‘I don’t know, the word’s ending.’

‘Oh, thank god.’

This is why she loved him, really.

 

 

> **Hockeyfanatic: Still would love to see the conversation between Oliver and Diggle after Dig patches up Roy from Oliver's arrow. Just the thought makes me chuckle especially thinking about Felicity walking in unbeknownst to the guys. LOL**
> 
> _[if you find certain lines familiar,[they're from here](http://sssssssim.tumblr.com/post/119955937621/lets-address-the-elephant-on-the-plane)]_

 ‘So are we going to talk about this?’, Diggle asked lowly.

‘Nope.’, Oliver shrugged, turning his back.

Of course, Digg didn’t let him leave, grabbing his hand and growling his name.

‘Look, Digg’, Oliver tired, ‘he was getting obnoxious and cocky. And he was getting too close.’

‘You were the one who let him get close’, Digg argued. ‘You’re the one who asked for his help.’

‘Yes, but he got cocky and it was dangerous.’

‘So you shot an arrow in his leg.’, Digg leveled him with a look. ‘How does that make sense?’

‘He’ll back off now.’

‘Really?’ Digg deadpanned. ‘You really believe that?’

‘Yes’, Oliver said with conviction.

‘Really? Are you sure?’

Oliver hesitated. ‘Of course.’

‘Oliver’, Digg sighed. ‘Don’t lie to me.’

Of course, that’s when Felicity came down to the Foundry, and she picked up on the tension immediately.

‘What’s wrong?’

Oliver sighed.

‘Mistakes were made.’

‘By you’, Digg pointed out.

‘Roy got hurt’, Oliver went on.

‘By you’, Digg pointed out again.

‘I may have shot Roy with an arrow.’

Felicity groaned. ‘He’s still alive, I take it?’

Oliver just nodded.

‘Well’, Felicity gulped, ‘I’m sure it will come to bite you back in the ass eventually. Until then, I really need more alcohol to deal with this.’

Oliver got out the vodka.


	37. the Other Felicity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _can you do a short story when baddass! felicity (arrow,canary, it combo) from the future where everybody dead comes to the past in post!season 3 help past selves face Merlyn, thea, league of assassin, save Sara, train younger self, pretty much what happen in the season so far but ended badly for the future felicity. also save olicity relationship! !!_
> 
> So this was requested during s3, obviously. So I took your idea, and manipulated a bit. Set in s4.

There were certain moments in Felicity’s life, when she had to stop and make a life-altering decision. Crossroads, her mother called them.

The first one came at the age of 10, when Felicity’s father said ’You can come with me, girl. I’ll get you out of this fucked up town, and away from your fucked up mother’.

Felicity stayed with her mother.

A couple of years later, her mother said ‘I’m going to miss you if you decide on going to MIT. I’ll be devastated, but I’ll manage.’

Felicity went to MIT.

Later, her mother said ‘Starling City is so far away from Vegas. But I know you’ll be happy there.’

Felicity moved to Starling City, and started working at QC.

Just a short while later, Oliver said ‘Felicity, you have to promise me you’re going to take me to my father’s factory, and nowhere else.’

Felicity took him to his father’s factory.

There were a lot of crossroads from them on out, but they didn’t feel as big. Maybe the moment when Oliver said ‘We should get out of here for a while.’ Maybe. But it didn’t feel like Felicity had a choice, the thought of refusing him never went through her mind.

But this, this moment here. This was, possibly, the biggest crossroad she will ever face.

≈≈≈

Recovering from a couple of gunshot wounds was not an easy affair, but Felicity pushed through it. While everybody was fussing over her, Felicity pushed her body to its limit and did everything in her power to recuperate faster.

It hurt, terribly so, but when Felicity was done with the physical therapy, she couldn’t stop. She sneaked out to QC’s gym instead of having lunch, and she sneaked into Oliver’s training room back home when he was sleeping.

That was when the idea first came to her.

It was the middle of the night, Oliver was sleeping peacefully in their bed and Felicity was on the treadmill, has been for the past 45 minutes. But her eyes skipped to the training dummy, and Felicity had a flash, of a memory that seemed very far away, of Sara correcting her feet’s position and asking her if she was okay.

The crossroad appeared as soon as Felicity thought of someone doing that for her again. Properly teaching her how to fight.

Oliver was never going to agree with it. So Felicity shook her head, took a quick shower and went back to bed.

The thought didn’t leave her, though.

Because… She was a strong woman. She was. She took down the Clock King and fooled Slade, and she survived multiple bullet wounds to her stomach. But she couldn’t fight. Yeah, she sometimes found herself in the position to hit men twice her size with objects that resembled a baseball bat, but she couldn’t fight. Not like Sara could, not like Laurel can.

Oliver will always do his best to keep her away from the battlefield, that was a no brainer. But that doesn’t mean that he’ll always be able to do it. And Felicity… it would help her a lot. It’ll make her stronger, if she knew she’d be able to protect herself.

Felicity needed to do this.

But Oliver would never in a million years agree to train her.

≈≈≈

As far as crossroads went, this was an easy one to sail past, considering the decision was taken out of Felicity’s hands.

At first, Felicity thought someone drugged her. Then, she thought maybe her mom lied to her, and she had a long lost twin. But the woman standing in front of Felicity looked just like her.

Older. She looked like an older version of Felicity.

‘What the hell?’, Oliver asked from her side, and then he moved.

The Other-Felicity watched him, amused, as Oliver grabbed his bow and aimed it straight at her chest.

‘Oh, you were such a hot head when you were young’, Other-Felicity said, and even Oliver paused at that.

Other-Felicity turned to look at her, and she smiled.

‘Hi there! As you have probably figured it out, I’m you. Well, I’m you from the future. And I’m here to help.’

‘With what?’, Felicity breathed out.

Other-Felicity grinned at that. She winked at Oliver before she very forcefully pushed his bow away, took it from him and, Felicity doesn’t even know how, but Oliver ended on the floor, with Other-Felicity pointing his bow at him, grinning proudly.

Then, Other-Felicity looked at Felicity.

‘It’s time we make you a proper superhero.’

That… yeah. Yeah, Felicity though. Please, yes.

≈≈≈

It took a while for Oliver to agree with it, and after he did, he always made sure to never be there when Felicity trained with… Felicity. Other Felicity, she had no problem in being called that.

They easily fell into a routine. Every night when the gang was out patrolling, they’d train in the empty base. And in the weekend, they’d spend a couple of hours together early in the morning, still in the empty base.

Other Felicity started out easy, with basic self defense, but Felicity already knew all that from Digg, so they moved past that. Now, Felicity learned how to attack, not just block punches.

It was hard. She was always sore and no painkillers could soothe her aches. But she could also see her muscles growing, her reaction time decreasing and all the pain and suffering was worth it.

≈≈≈

Other Felicity never talked about anything other than their training. But three weeks in, Felicity caved, and asked.

‘I can’t tell you’, Other Felicity smiled apologetically. ‘That’s how time travel works, butterfly effect and all. ‘

‘Please tell me something?’, Felicity all but begged. ‘Anything?’

Other Felicity pondered this. ‘How about I tell you what I can’t tell you?’

Felicity frowned.

‘I can’t tell you when Oliver and I got married’, Other Felicity started. ‘Or when our children were born. Or who Barry married.’ She snorted before going on. ‘Or why that bachelor party turned into a superhero disaster. I can’t tell you how Oliver threatens Thea’s future husband, and I can’t tell you all that you’re going to go through.’

Felicity took a deep breath. ‘But we survive.’

Other Felicity smiled. ‘It’s not going to be easy. And not everyone will survive. But… yeah.’

‘Why are you here?’

‘That’s a good question’, Other Felicity shook her head. ‘Can’t say I have an answer to it. But… I do remember it.’

Felicity took a couple of seconds to wrap her head around it. ‘Time travel is hard’, she concluded, and Other Felicity laughed.

‘Damn right. Now, how about we move on to some weapons training?’

That night, Felicity learned the proper way to fire a machine gun.

≈≈≈

Three months later, Other Felicity left with little fanfare. She told Felicity about an empty apartment in which she stayed, trusted her with a key and told her that when the time comes, she’ll be ready to go back in time and train herself.

Then, Other Felicity spoke with Oliver in hush tones for a couple of minutes, but Felicity never found out what they spoke about.

≈≈≈

A week later, she was all but ambushed by Laurel and Thea, who kept on babbling about how they should train with Felicity, because it’s not like riding a bike, you forget your training if you don’t train. Made sense, so Felicity put on her work out clothes and headed with them to the training mats.

She was well aware of Oliver and Digg watching them closely, but she ignored them, focusing on the evil grins Laurel and Thea supported.

They both attacked her but Felicity saw that they weren’t trying hard. That, Felicity will come to learn, will be her biggest advantage: people always underestimated the blonde CEO wearing heels.

Laurel and Thea were both on the ground in a matter of seconds.

‘Again’, Laurel said, getting up. ‘I was going to spare you, but-‘

‘Not anymore’, Thea nodded.

And they started again.

By the end of it, when they were all a sweating mess, breathing heavily, they were also grinning.

Felicity spared a look to Oliver. His jaw was dropped, and he was blinking rapidly.

He didn’t say anything, never did, but a week later, Felicity got a package from Cisco.

There was a note. _Your future husband had a few ideas, but I just made them better and more awesome. You’re welcome. Use it wisely, Felicity. And hit me up if you ever need any weapons to be pimped out._

It was a suit. Sleek black, with small hints of dark green. Oliver’s dark green. It had a hood, and places to put guns and knives and it was the hottest thing Felicity has ever seen. She started crying, but shook it off quickly. Instead she marched to Oliver, ripped off his shirt and later, when they were both sweaty and mellow, she asked him to teach her how to shoot arrows.

≈≈≈

15 years later, Rip Hunter knocks on their door, wielding a thing that looks like a watch but is actually a time traveling device.

‘I heard you needed this’, was all he said, and as a response, Felicity took out the key she hasn’t touched in 15 years.

‘Don’t go falling in love with the younger version of myself’, Oliver tells her with a smirk, but Felicity knows better.

Still, she kissed her husband and her kids, put on the clothes she bought over the years just because she saw them before, and squared her shoulders, mentally preparing herself to meet her younger self.


	38. Felicity Merlyn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> K said: _I miss Tommy in the show so it has me thinking up different ways to have still in it one that won't leave my head at the moment is that after Felicity's dad leaves her mother decides that she wants a new start without Felicity and leaves her outside the medical center in Starling (the one that Tommy's mother set up) and Felicity is there when Rebecca Merlyn is shot and saves her life, the Merlyn's then decide to adopt her. I wonder how that would change the story and if Malcolm would still want to destroy the Glades or if he would be happy that someone - even if she was a child- stopped to help his wife. If you want to use this scenario you are most welcome to, I know that you would be great with it._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS WAS A RIDE. a 7k+ long ride. enjoy.

If there was one thing Felicity was known for, it was her inability to say ‘no’ to someone in need.

It started out when she was little, giving other kids her toys on the playground, helping them finish their drawings on the asphalt, always helping her mother make dinner. 

Went on during school, the bullies didn’t even need to bully her for homework, she gave it willingly.

And it didn't matter what she was doing at that time, she would stop in order to help someone in need. Most of the time, she didn’t even realize she was doing it. But, ultimately, this would be the character trade that would change Felicity’s life. 

↗↖

She was 10 years old when her father left. And it only took a month more for her mother to leave her as well. At least her mom was more prepared. She waited until the end of the school year, she packed a huge bag for Felicity, and thoroughly explained that the blue folder contained all the official papers that renounce her and her father of any parental rights over Felicity, all her birth records, her school and medical records. 

Then, they got in the car and drove for hours. Felicity cried all the way, her mother ignored her. She saw the “Welcome to Starling City” sign and asked her mother why she chose this city.

‘Because it’s completely different from Vegas.’

Felicity didn’t understand it, not then. She wouldn’t understand it for a couple of years.

Felicity’s mother didn’t even say goodbye. She stopped the car in front of a medical clinic, told her to go inside, and drove away with a screech of tires.

↗↖

She stares after the car for a while, and she’s still crying, but she squares her shoulders and moves to go inside. It appears to be closed, and Felicity cries harder, all alone at night in a foreign city. 

Then she hears someone, a woman that sounds like she’s crying, saying ‘no, please’, over and over again and Felicity  _ has  _ to help. So she goes to the side alley, and sees a woman there, with her back against a wall, and there’s a man with a gun pointed at her.

Felicity doesn’t scream, even though she wants to. Instead, she goes back to the main street, and to her immense relief, she sees a police car parked half a block away. She runs to them, and tries her best to explain through her sobs, and then both of the cops are running to the alley.

And Felicity just sits there, by the police car, crying her heart out, hearing the policemen shouting, and that woman crying. More police cars show up, and Felicity sees the man, now handcuffed, shoved into a car and driven away. 

She sees the woman, crying and clearly shaken up, but there’s an ambulance, and there’s paramedics wrapping her into a blanket.

And then one of the cops she talked to is there, asking her where her parents are.

‘Gone’, her voice breaks. ‘I have the papers with me.’

The cop frowns. ‘Papers?’

‘In which they give away their parental rights.’

The man curses, and Felicity would usually reprimand him for it, but she can’t, not right now.

It’s a long night. She gets taken to the police station, and the cops give her a chocolate bar and orange juice as she tells them what happened. Then there’s a woman, soft around the edges but with a stern voice, that introduces herself as a social worker and asks for Felicity’s papers.

By the time the sun comes up, she takes Felicity to an orphanage and she cries herself to sleep, in a room filled with other kids, in a town she knows nothing about.

↗↖

The orphanage isn’t a nice place. It’s old and all the furniture squeaks, and the food tastes like cardboard. The other kids don’t talk. The older ones, the teenagers, they all hang around together and smoke in the garden, but the kids Felicity’s age don’t talk, they just sit by themselves, drawing or watching cartoons or playing with the little toys they have at their disposal. 

Felicity doesn’t complain.

↗↖

The woman she saved comes to see her three days later. She introduces herself as Rebecca Merlyn and spends ten minutes thanking Felicity. She also brings her a big platter filled with mini cakes. 

‘I’m allergic to peanuts’, she admits, blushing despite herself. ‘Do you think you could give it to the other kids? They don’t get a lot of treats here.’

Rebecca does give it to the other kids, and asks what happened to her parents.

Felicity tells her. Slowly, measuring her words. She doesn’t cry, but only just barely. 

Rebecca doesn’t comfort her, which actually brings more comfort to Felicity. Instead, the woman tells her that her parents are fools. Felicity doesn’t agree with her, but doesn’t contradict her either.

The woman leaves with a promise to come back. 

↗↖

She comes back two days later, with her husband. The man introduces himself as Malcom and he also thanks Felicity. 

They don’t bring cakes this time, they bring her coloring books and very expensive crayons, and a new copy of Grimm Fairytales, saying that their son likes them.

‘Oh, I love these’, Felicity admits. 

‘You’ve read it?’, Malcom asks.

Felicity nodded. ‘This was the first book I ever read by myself, a couple of years ago.’

The adults are watching her wide eyes.

‘I’m smart’, Felicity says in a whisper. ‘That’s what all the teachers kept telling my mom. She kept saying I should be a normal kid, so she didn’t agree with advanced placement.’

‘Honey’, Rebecca asks, but falters for a second. ‘What was the last book you read?’

Felicity thinks about it. 

‘It was a DYI book, on how to build a computer.’

‘And you understood it?’, Malcom asks.

Felicity shakes her head. ‘Not all of it. There were a lot of words in there I didn’t understand, but it helped me take down my dad’s old computer. And put it back together. He got really mad, but it still worked.’

When they leave that day, the Merlyn’s look determined. Felicity doesn’t understand what it means.

↗↖

The next time they come, they come with a lawyer and their son.

Tommy is three years older than her, and he looks like he doesn’t want to be there. 

The Merlyn's explain, that they will forever be grateful for what Felicity did, and that they can’t stand behind and watch a girl with such potential waste away in the system. They say they want to adopt her.

‘You don’t have to do that’, Felicity shakes her head, panicking. ‘No, really, there’s no need. I’m fine here. I mean, school starts in a couple of months. Maybe now I’ll be able to get in a higher grade, and that’ll be good, on the long run.’

‘You don’t like us?’, Rebecca asks.

‘It’s not that’, Felicity says quickly. ‘But you don’t owe me anything, and you don’t know me. I’m not a good kid, Mrs. Merlyn. I ask for way too many books, and I like messing around with electronics and I’ll probably steal your nailpolishes and you already have a son, why would you need me for?’

‘You like books?’, Tommy asks, and it’s the first words he said since he came in. 

Felicity nods, hesitating.

‘Good, cause I hate them’, Tommy frowns. ‘We have a ton, and nobody’s reading them. It’s a waste.’

Her jaw drops, and she has absolutely no response to that.

‘So, Tommy’, Rebecca says, somewhat amused, ‘you wouldn’t be opposed to us adopting Felicity?’

He looks her up and down with a scrutinizing eye, and Felicity shrinks in on herself, blushing furiously.

‘She’s a girl, and I don’t like girls. Do you like boys?’, he asks Felicity and she shrugs.

‘I don’t know? Most boys don’t talk to me, so I don’t know.’

Tommy narrows his eyes. ‘Okay, I have a very important question, that will decide our relationship from now on.’

Felicity feels like screaming.

‘Captain America or Iron Man?’, Tommy asks with a completely straight face, and Felicity doesn’t miss the way his parents roll their eyes.

‘Uhm’, Felicity frowns. ‘I can’t pick one. Cause Tony is as brilliant as I want to be and Steve is as brave as I want to be.’

There’s a silence that follows her statement. Tommy turns to his parents.

‘We can be friends’, he nods with determination. ‘Adopt her’.

Rebecca turns to her. ‘We’re not going to do this without you consent, Felicity. Even if we start the process now, it’ll take a while, a couple of weeks. We can get to know each other in the meantime, and if you ever feel like… we’re not a good match for you, you say the word and we stop.’

‘You’re so different than my mom’, Felicity finds herself admitting.

‘I’m not trying to be your mom’, Rebecca says quickly. ‘I’m trying to be your friend.’

Felicity starts crying then. It’s a surprise, really, that it took her so long.

‘Good’, she takes a deep breath. ‘Cause I don’t need a mom, but I could use some friends.’

The adults smile at that and Tommy grins, not hesitating at all as he wraps a hand around her shoulders and ruffles her hair.

And that’s that.

↗↖

She moves in with them after three weeks. The papers haven’t come through yet, but the social worker said they will, so it was okay to move in.

Felicity didn’t really realize how rich the Merlyn’s were. The house is huge, her room is bigger than the apartment in Vegas, and it’s filled with stuff. Clothes, toys, a huge tv and different gaming platforms, a tons of games for them, there’s a tablet and a laptop and a phone. The bed is the softest thing Felicity has ever felt and the comforter has gold thread in it and there’s some jewelry on the vanity and it’s all too much.

And then Rebecca takes her on a tour of the rest of the house, and it looks like a palace to Felicity. The kitchen is massive, and there are people who work there, that Felicity can ask to bring or make her anything, and each of the adults have an office, and there’s a library that takes Felicity’s breathe away. Its four walls are filled with books and she can’t wait to get her hands on them, with a soft looking couch in the middle and a small desk to the side, and Tommy’s room is right across the hall from Felicity’s and they have a dog, a husky called Sparky that keeps sniffing her feet and hasn’t left her side since she stepped in the house and it’s all very overwhelming.

She pulls on a happy front during dinner, but then she excuses herself and hides up in her room, crying as silently as possible under the covers.

↗↖

The papers come through a week later, and Felicity gets to talk to a therapist. She doesn’t mind, not at all.

She needs to talk about everything that has happened, she’s smart enough to realize it, and she can’t talk about it with the Merlyn’s. 

For some reason Felicity doesn’t understand, her therapist insists that it’s okay to feel bad because her name changed. She really doesn’t. Felicity Merlyn sounds a lot better than Felicity Smoak right about now, and she’s happy for it. 

She’s happy about everything, really, but it’s hard. 

Honestly, Felicity got over the heartbreak her parents brought her while she was still in the orphanage. She was better off without them.

The Merlyn's were a nice family. But…

Her therapist encouraged her to talk to them about her issues. So she did, one evening at dinner.

‘I feel very inappropriate’, she admits, not looking up. ‘I feel like I’m taking advantage of your kindness and generosity, and I’m not giving anything in return. You got me all these things, spent so much money on me-’

‘It’s no problem’, Malcom interrupts quickly.

‘We just want you to be comfortable’, Rebecca ads.

‘I know’, Felicity sighs. ‘And I am grateful, but… I’d like to pay you back in some way.’

There is a pause. 

‘Your therapist already talked to me about it’, Rebecca says. ‘We’ll think of something.’

‘Thank you.’, Felicity breathes a sigh of relief.

‘Until then, maybe you could help Tommy with homework.’

‘Mom’, he groans. ‘It’s summer.’

‘That doesn’t mean you don’t have homework’, his mother points out, and Tommy sighs.

‘I guess I could use some help with math.’

‘I can totally do that’, Felicity is quick to nod. ‘I already know everything till 9th grade math.’

Tommy stares at her for a couple of beats. ‘You’re a nerd.’

‘Yup’, she shrugs. ‘But I’m the nerd that’s gonna help you.’

‘Fine’, he sighs again, shaking himself out of it after, smiling gratefully at her.

It’s a start.

A few days after, Rebecca brings Felicity with her to her clinic, the one where it all started. Felicity doesn’t do much, just push paperwork around from one doctor to the next. But she also gets granted access to their files, and she makes up a simple and efficient system, and they’re all quick to accept it.

It’s nice.

She’s in a good place. 

↗↖

It takes about a month, but Felicity gathers enough information to get a read on the Merlyn's.

First, there’s Tommy. He’s a spoiled brat, but he’s also kind and funny. They have very different personalities, but somehow, when they’re together, they both compromise and meet in the middle. Tommy is less of a pig with her, and Felicity makes a point to not hold back her jokes and sarcasm. They work well enough together, and she manages to help him with his math. And physics. And chemistry. And English.

Then, there’s Rebecca. She’s a kind woman, who, like Felicity, wants to help everyone. As she said, she’s never a mother to Felicity, always acts like a friend. It’s comforting, and Felicity soon realizes that she can talk to her about anything.

Malcom is another story. He’s absent. They only see him a couple of times a week at dinner, and if they’re lucky, he works from home at the weekends. Felicity realizes that while they do love each other a great deal, Tommy and Malcom don’t really have a father/son relationship. But it’s not any of her business and it seems to work for them, so Felicity doesn’t intervene.

They all treat her kindly. They don’t pity her, which was one of Felicity’s greatest fears, and it’s good. The house may not feel like a home yet, but Felicity is certain it will in the future.

↗↖

She meets Oliver three days before school starts.

Felicity has spent her entire day in the library, completely sucked into a book. When she decided it was time for bed, she heard gunshot sounds from Tommy’s bedroom, and some yelling, but that was a normal occurrence.

So she’s startled, when close to midnight, someone comes into her room. She doesn’t scream, she just turns on her lamp.

There’s a boy staring at her from the doorway. His jaw is dropped, he has beautiful eyes and he’s wearing one of Tommy’s t-shirts, and no pants.

‘This used to be my guestroom’, he says and Felicity blinks.

‘Well it’s not anymore.’

‘Right’, he nods, looking around the room, his eyes stopping on the vanity.

Something clicks in Felicity’s mind, a fuzzy memory of Tommy telling her yesterday that his best friend was back from the holidays with his parents.

‘You must be Oliver.’, Felicity says, slowly, getting out of bed and moving in front of him, extending a hand.

He shakes it, frowning at her.

‘Felicity?’

She smiles. ‘It’s nice to meet you.’

Tommy runs out of his room, then, apologizing for forgetting to tell Oliver that his sleeping arrangements changed. 

They’re gone in a whirlwind soon after, and Felicity doesn't think much of it.

But Oliver is still there in the morning, blushing when he apologizes to her, and politely asking her about how she’s settling in. He tells her that Tommy talks a lot about her, with an amount of respect he has never seen in his best friend, and Felicity kind of wants to cry.

Oliver realizes it, and he’s so startled, he apologizes and tells her not to cry, he can’t handle pretty girls crying, he’ll start crying too, still does when his little sister cries and he’s absently patting her hair and Felicity laughs.

That’s how Tommy finds them.

‘Oliver’, he says in what’s supposed to be a menacing tone, ‘stay away from my little sister.’

She does start crying then, and she wraps Tommy up in a tight, tight hug and cries on his shoulder until they’re both laughing.

‘Oh good’, Oliver breathes out when they detach themselves. ‘For a second there, I thought you were normal. We can’t have that, not in this family.’

And that is how Felicity knew Oliver will easily make her way into her heart.

↗↖

When school starts, Felicity feels anxiousness for the first time. For real.

The first week, she doesn't actually go to classes, but talk with teachers and takes test after test after test, and when that was done, she wasn’t just taking a lot of AP classes, she was put in Tommy’s year.

It was a good thing, because, while it didn’t take long for Felicity to realize that Tommy and Oliver were very popular, they both took her under her wing. They shared a couple of classes, and they always sit together, at lunch as well, and that helped Felicity ease into things.

School wasn’t hard, for Felicity, it was just a lot of work. She didn’t mind, though, she was, as Tommy put it, a nerd, so she enjoyed studying and doing homework.

The time she spent helping Tommy and Oliver’s with theirs, that was fun time for Felicity. The boys also made a point to take her out, at least once a week. A movie, laser tag, a walk in the park, the arcade. 

At home, Felicity and Tommy always had dinner with Rebecca, and with Malcom when he was home. And Felicity talked a lot with Rebecca, it really did feel like she was her friend. 

Felicity didn’t really make friends at school, even though everybody was polite towards her (the perks of being a Merlyn), but Rebecca, she felt like a true friend.

Over the years, Rebecca was the one to always be there, to hear it first. Tommy was usually the second, Oliver if he was there.

Felicity loved her family. Easily. Strongly. She had a good life.

↗↖

Things changed in high school.

Felicity and Tommy grew apart, a little, meaning that they didn't spend all their time at school together anymore.

Because Felicity made some friends of her own, and Tommy got girlfriends. A lot of them. So did Oliver.

And Felicity got a job, at a bookstore after school, and that felt amazing, not having to ask Rebecca for money anymore.

At home, though, things were exactly the same, so it was alright.

And when Felicity got her first boyfriend, Tommy gave him a very typical big-brother speech, which amused Felicity more than it amused her boyfriend.

And when they broke up, Tommy and Oliver took Felicity shopping, making a great point of complimenting her in every dress she tried out. They had cookies and icecream for dinner, and they all fell asleep on the couch watching Disney movies. 

There was a moment in high school, that Felicity would come to think of as a defining moment. 

Junior Prom. It was the first prom Felicity attended, and she only did it because Tommy begged. He was in between girlfriends at the moment (meaning the last two still hated him and nobody else dared to step close to him), so he begged Felicity to go as his date. 

Rebecca was incredibly excited by the prospect, so Felicity caved. They went shopping for dresses together, and the older woman did Felicity’s hair and makeup and Tommy stared a lot when he saw her.

He called her beautiful, which was weird, because in Tommy’s mind, girls were usually hot or not.

But that wasn’t the Moment.

No, the Moment came when they got there and met Oliver.

Felicity felt a weird earthquake in her stomach at the sight of him. She doesn’t know if it was the way his suit looked perfectly fitted on his body, if it was the fact that Felicity just now realized that the hours he spent in the gym with Tommy paid off, or if it was the new way he styled his hair, or the way his blue eyes twinkled in the fake light of the gym, or the way he grinned when he saw them, and swept Felicity off her feet and twirled her around.

She doesn’t know what it was, but Felicity’s heart raced with the thought of Oliver, with the phantom feeling of his hands on her waist. 

Felicity ignored it. Compulsively. Excessively. 

↗↖

Oliver and Laurel got together a week after prom.

↗↖

Felicity went to MIT.

She sent the application just for the sake of it, not once thinking she’d actually get in. But she did, with a full scholarship.

She didn’t faint when she read the letter. Instead, she started crying instantly. And she ran to Tommy’s room, not bothering with knocking, ignoring the fact that him and Oliver were in the middle of a video game. 

They yelled at her, when Felicity all but collapsed in front of the couch. Then they panicked, when their realized that Felicity was crying, and she couldn’t speak, all that came out were a mess of vowels, but she waved the letter around.

Tommy screamed when he read it. He shoved the paper in Oliver’s general direction, and joined Felicity on the floor, hugging her tightly and laughing in her ear.

‘MIT’s really far away’, Oliver said, and Tommy and Felicity both quieted down at that.

‘It doesn’t matter’, Tommy said with conviction.

Felicity believed him.

↗↖

Tommy went to college in Starling, so he still lived with his parents.

They took turns: once a month, Felicity would come home for a weekend, and the next month, Tommy would visit her at MIT. 

They skyped every other day, they texted every day, and even though they were miles and miles away, they were still close. 

Felicity was still completely up to date with every woman Tommy had in his bed, with every drunken mistake he made, with every stupid thing him and Oliver ever did.

And Oliver stayed in touch as well. Not as often as Tommy, but he’d text and call, and Felicity appreciated it probably more than she should have.

↗↖

Felicity didn’t tell Tommy about Cooper.

He knew they were dating, but she didn’t tell him what Cooper and her did. She just told him they broke up, but didn’t explain, didn’t say that Cooper was in jail, taking the fall from her.

When he killed himself, Felicity didn’t tell Tommy that either. 

↗↖

Oliver died a week after Cooper.

Felicity was in the middle of a class, when her phone rung. She ignored it, and apologized to the professor, but then her professor’s phone rung, and he answered, and he paled while his eyes stared Felicity down.

‘Miss Merlyn’, he said after he hung up. ‘You’re excused from class. Gather your things and… call your mother.’

Felicity did as she was told, gathered her things as her anxiety kept growing and growing. Something was wrong, clearly, and Felicity was terrified. The fact that everybody was staring at her didn’t help, neither did the fact that when she stepped out of campus, she was met with the familiar sight of a limo, and a driver holding up a piece of paper with her name.

When her mother told her what happened, Felicity just said ‘Okay. Did you get me a plane ticket?’

↗↖

She felt numb, but she kept on moving.

She went back to her dorm room, quickly packed a bag and ignored everything her roommate had to say. The TV was on, Oliver and Robert’s smiling faces watching her. 

That’s when she started crying. And she didn’t stop, not even when she landed in Starling. 

Rebecca was waiting for her, and she hugged Felicity tighter than ever.

‘Where’s Tommy?’, was all she managed to say.

‘Home’, Rebecca said. ‘With Thea. Moira dropped her off, she couldn’t…’

She didn’t finish that sentence, but Felicity still understood. Moira Queen was, most likely, the most devastated woman in the world right now.

↗↖

Felicity didn’t say anything, when she saw Tommy on the couch, holding a sobbing Thea close to his chest. Truth be told, he was crying just as hard. And so was Felicity.

So she silently sat down next to them, and she snuggled into Tommy’s side, and they both gave Thea all the comfort they could.

↗↖

To say that Felicity and Tommy changed after that was an understatement. 

Tommy still slept around, and he still did stupid things, but now he left all his feelings at the door. He grew colder, as a person, more detached and indifferent. With everyone except for his mother, Felicity and Thea. He cared a lot about Thea, and he took care of her in every way he could. 

Felicity did the same thing, really. She stopped dating, she stopped going out, she burried herself in her school work and graduated six months early. 

The e-mail from QC came the day after. She thought about refusing the job, thinking that Moira was just being nice, but then she read the last lines of the e-mail. 

_ No, Mrs. Merlyn, you did not receive this offer because of your last name or because of your entanglement with the name on our office building. You received this offer because you deserve this. If you want more information, then accept the job and ask me personally :). _

Seriously, how many people got a smiley face in a job offer? Felicity still called Moira. Who laughed. When she calmed down, she explained that Walter was the active CEO of QC now, and that he expressed his wish of hiring Felicity when she was still in high school. 

Well then. 

Felicity moved back to Starling. She got an apartment, halfway through between the Merlyn mansion and Tommy’s new place, and she got a low level, starting job in the IT department of QC.

Surprisingly enough, walking every day into a building with Oliver’s last name on it didn’t hurt as much as she thought.

↗↖

It’s Thea who calls her. She’s at work, immersed into code, but she does pause and answer the phone.

‘He’s alive’, Thea says, just as Walter rushes into her office.

‘Oliver’s alive.’

Felicity grins. She starts crying, drops her phone and stumbles over her heels, but she grins. 

↗↖

The doctors don’t think Oliver would be ready to see them all, so Felicity and Tommy head home. They have a late dinner with Rebecca and Malcom, celebrating, and they fall asleep in Tommy’s old room, both of them half drunk.

↗↖

She has to stop, before going into his room. Tommy doesn’t, Tommy runs straight in.

So Felicity hears them. She hears Oliver saying Tommy’s name, she hears them hugging, and she hears Oliver asking about her. She starts crying when she hears her name coming from his lips, for the first time in five years.

She also pushes through and gets into the room, and she laughs, so delighted, when Oliver grins at her and easily opens his arms.

Felicity doesn’t hesitate in pushing her entire body against his, from taking deep breathes and just…

‘You’re here’, she whispers. ‘You’re really here.’

‘Don’t cry’, he whispers into her hair. ‘I still can’t handle pretty girls crying.’

She laughs for what feels like the first time in five years.

↗↖

Tommy and her stay for dinner, so she sees a lot. 

Felicity sees how Oliver doesn’t touch his food, and later she’d realize that it makes sense, he probably isn’t used to three courses meals anymore.

She sees how he’s sitting stiffly, how differently he handles himself, how he looks like every muscle in his body is tense. Her first thought is that maybe he didn’t live a very peaceful life on that island.

He has great reflexes, that he didn’t have before. Felicity remembers him, clearly, dropping his phone on several occasions. She thinks he probably didn’t live a very peaceful life on that island, if he had to learn to handle himself like that.

He speaks Russian now. She thinks that maybe he didn’t spend all these five years on that island.

He figures it out, about Moira and Walter being married. The Oliver she knew wouldn’t have figured that out in a million years. It took him months to realize Felicity got her first boyfriend, even if he was usually at home with Felicity when Oliver was with Tommy. 

He’s cold now. Borderline rude. Felicity thinks he probably has PTSD. 

She’s certain he didn’t spend these past five years just on the island.

↗↖

The Hood turns up.

… She thinks about it. Felicity really thinks about it.

But, just like that prom night years ago, she ignores it. Compulsively. Excessively.

↗↖

Felicity doesn’t see a lot of Oliver, and she argues that it’s the best thing for him. He’s probably being smothered, she thinks, by everyone around him, from his mother and Thea, to Tommy and Laurel and … Felicity gives him space, no matter how much she’d want nothing else than to wrap him in a hug and not let him go for about a year.

So it’s a shock, when he seeks her out.

With a bullet ridden laptop and a stupid lie.

Felicity helps him, of course she does. 

But she thinks about it. About the Hood. 

↗↖

He keeps pushing everyone away, his mother and Thea, Tommy, even the almighty Laurel. His new driver. 

Oliver pushes all of them away.

He comes to Felicity, though. He’s cold and fakes friendly smiles and kisses her cheek, but he’s … he’s not the Oliver she knew. Not even close.

Oliver lies to her, a lot, ridiculous lies to cover up for things that don’t make any sense.

She helps him. Every time.

But she thinks about it. About the Hood.

↗↖

When Walter is kidnapped, Felicity already knows for sure that Oliver is the Hood, even if he hasn’t said a word to her.

So when she gives him the notebook, she plays dumb. Acts like she doesn’t know, like she’s only giving him the notebook because it’s something connected to his family.

He seems to buy it.

It's an opportunity, for Oliver to tell her the truth. But he doesn't.

↗↖

‘I’m not going to hurt you, Felicity’, someone says from the back of her car, and she yelps, and freezes for a second when she sees Oliver. 

The Hood.

Bleeding.

‘God damn you, Oliver.’, she breathes out, reaching a hand to gently take off his hood. Her fingers linger on his cheekbone.

‘You knew?’, he breathes out, furrowing his brow.

She nods and takes away her hand, putting it back on the steering wheel. 

‘I’m not as stupid as you think’. It comes off harsher than it should have, and she regrets it instantly, so she shakes her shoulders and turns on the car.

‘No hospital’, Oliver says and Felicity rolls her eyes.

‘Of course not. I’m taking you to your secret base of operations, in your dad’s old factory, and while I’m driving, I’m praying to god that you have a partner, because I am really unprepared to give you stitches.’

‘God, Felicity’, he says, groans, really, but he doesn’t continue. Felicity waits until they hit a red light to turn around, and she curses when he sees that Oliver passed out. 

She speeds all the way to the foundry.

↗↖

‘Does that mean you’re in?’, Oliver asks her, and she shakes her head, still wiping tears from her face. 

He flatlined, okay? Under her hands. She’s allowed to cry. 

‘Then why’d you upgrade my system?’, he asks strongly, and she has to smile, because this, this she knows. Oliver and her fighting, this is normal.

‘The same reason why I helped you with everything you asked. Even if, no offence, you are the worst liar on the face of the planet.’

Oliver narrows his eyes, something strong flashing in his eyes. ‘I’ve gotten better.’

She breathes out. ‘Not with me.’

Felicity shakes her head, spares a look to John, who’s watching them with innocent curiosity.

‘I have helped you since the moment I met you’, Felicity smiled, ‘and that’s not going to stop now. Because now, I think you need me more than you ever did.’

Oliver takes a step back. She knows he’s about to argue with her, so Felicity puts a hand over his mouth.

‘I’m not saying you need my hacking skills, although it’s clear that you do, I’m saying that you need something, someone, some part of what you were before you were stranded on that island because-’, her voice falters and she has to take a deep breath. But she doesn’t look away from him.

‘You don’t like what you’ve become. But you think there’s no other option. You need someone to convince you there is.’

She can’t think of anything else to say, so she takes away her hand, and Oliver starts shaking his head.

‘The Oliver you knew is long gone.’

‘Yeah’, Felicity nods. ‘I know that. But I also know that the Hood… that this Oliver standing in front of me, I know he’s not the best version available.’

He looks heartless, Felicity thinks. There are no emotions in his eyes, as he’s staring at her, and she knows she’s going to have a lot, a lot of work to do, and she knows he’s not going to let her, he's going to fight her, but she’s going to try. 

‘If you don’t tell Tommy, then I will’, Felicity finds herself saying.

Oliver’s expression turns murderous, and she raises a hand to his chest.

‘It’s killing him, how … away you are. You’re detached, and cold, and you’re faking emotions, and he can see it, and you’re killing him. You’re shutting him out, and you’re hurting him, and I will not stand for it.’

‘Felicity’, Oliver grits out, his chest rising under her hand, ‘I can’t-’

‘You can and you will.’, she cuts him off, looking towards John again. ‘You can’t do this alone. John will help you with his massive biceps, I will help you with my nubile fingers, and Tommy will help you with drinking after a long night.’

Oliver opens his mouth.

‘And if you think’, Felicity interrupts him again, ‘that he won’t agree with this, with what you’re doing for this city, if you think he’ll think any less of you, then... ‘, she falters.

‘Then what?’, Oliver says, a bit of amusement seeping through in his tone.

‘Then you’re dumb and seriously Oliver, we’ve settled this back in the 10th grade: you’re stupid and I’m not and you should always do what I tell you.’

Oliver glares down at her. She takes away her hand.

‘I like her’, John says. ‘Can we keep her?’

Felicity smirks. 

Oliver smiles. It’s small, but it’s there.

‘I’m not stupid’, he says, and Felicity rolls her eyes, lowering her voice, doing her best to imitate him.

‘My coffee shop is in a bad neighbourhood. I ran out of sports bottles. My friend’s doing a treasure hunt. I wanna reconnect with an old friend.’

John’s laughing by this point, and Oliver is clearly trying to stop himself from laughing.

‘Now’, Felicity uses her own voice. ‘There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask. Where’s the bathroom cause I wanted to pee even before I dragged your sorry ass here.’

‘I dragged his sorry ass here’, John pointed out, but Felicity just waved him off.

‘I’m going to regret this’, Oliver sighs.

‘You will if you keep me away from the bathroom.’

John laughs, again. 

It’s good, Felicity thinks.

↗↖

Oliver lets her know when he plans on telling Tommy, so she’s there for it.

Tommy doesn’t say anything, he just stares. At Oliver, at the arrows on display in the factory, at Oliver again, at John, at Felicity, at Oliver, at Felicity.

‘Now is the moment you say something’, Felicity points out a long while after Oliver stopped talking.

Tommy doesn’t, in fact, say something, he just jumps on Oliver and hugs him tightly. 

↗↖

When Oliver tells them that Merlyn is the Dark Archer, Felicity immediately starts denying it.

She’s so angry at him, for even thinking it. How could he? Malcom saved her! He made his life better! She wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for him! How does Oliver dare to say anything bad about him?

‘It wouldn’t surprise me’, Tommy says, and Felicity shuts up, in shock.

‘What?’, he looks at her. ‘He’s a ruthless monster, this is right up his alley.’

Felicity runs out of there, and thankfully, nobody follows her.

↗↖

She hates herself for it, but she does something she never thought she would ever do. 

She hacks Malcom.

And she finds… everything. 

When she calls Oliver, she’s sobbing.

‘Are you hurt?’, he asks, and Felicity just tells him to call over, and bring Tommy to.

↗↖

They’re both silent, as Felicity explains her findings. The secret accounts, the laundered money, the secret trips to South Africa, the arrows purchased, on and on, everything.

‘Fuck’, Tommy breathes out, and even though she’s crying her heart out, Felicity laughs.

‘What do we do?’, she asks. ‘What the fuck do we do?’

Oliver shakes his head. ‘I know what I can do, but it’s your decision. He’s your father.’

That’s nice of him, Felicity absently thinks. She’d much rather have someone else take this decision for her.

↗↖

There’s no decision to make, especially after Malcom kidnaps and tortures Oliver. 

There’s no decision to make, especially when they find out about the earthquake devices. 

Felicity just hopes Oliver will be able to get the better hand on Malcom.

↗↖

‘Oliver, Lance did it’, Felicity says, relieved.

‘It’s over’, Oliver responds, and Felicity gets out of her chair, eager to relax her whole body. She gets three steps away.

‘Felicity’, Oliver says gravely, ‘there’s another device. There’s two of them.’

And the ground starts shaking under her feet.

↗↖

‘Oliver?’, her voice breaks. 

‘Are you okay?’

‘Yeah.’ She’s crying, but pushes through it. There’s no time for tears. 

‘The damage seems to be contained on the east side.’

‘Laurel’, Oliver says, and yes, Felicity expected it. 

She waits for him. Waits for almost an hour, for him to come back, for him to say anything over the comms. She waits and waits and waits and starts cleaning up the Foundry. 

‘Felicity’, Oliver finally says, voice even worse than before. ‘I took Tommy to the hospital.’

‘What?’, her legs give out.

‘He saved Laurel. He’s … he’s breathing. I don’t know much, I couldn’t stay anymore.’

‘I’m going’, Felicity says, already heading for the exit.

‘No’, Oliver growls. ‘He’s in surgery now, and the city is on fire. Wait for me, we’ll go together.’

‘But-’

‘Wait for me!’, he says even more strongly. ‘You won’t be safe out there, and, honestly...’, he takes a deep breath, ‘I can’t stitch myself up.’

‘Okay’, Felicity admits defeat, and starts looking for the med kit.

↗↖

Tommy doesn’t seem devastated over the fact that Oliver killed his father.

Oliver doesn’t seem devastated over the fact that Laurel and Tommy and back together.

Tommy doesn’t seem devastated over the fact that he’ll be spending the next month in the hospital.

Oliver doesn’t seem devastated over the fact that his mother is in prison.

Felicity… has no idea what she’s supposed to feel.

Rebecca is a mess. She lost the love of her life, found out what type of a man he truly was, she almost lost her son, and Felicity can’t even tell her the truth. But she’s there for Rebecca, just as she has been there for Felicity. She focuses on that. 

↗↖

Rebecca leaves town three weeks later. Neither Felicity nor Tommy can blame her. 

↗↖

When Tommy gets out of the hospital, he officially moves in with Laurel. Felicity, Oliver and Thea are invited over for dinner, and it’s not as awkward as Felicity thought.

Turns out, all her friends are fans on compulsively ignoring a problem until it goes away.

It’s a nice evening. 

↗↖

Oliver takes her home, and he doesn’t stop until they’re in front of her door.

Something’s clearly on his mind, Felicity can see it in the way he’s rubbing his fingers together, in the way he’s avoiding looking her in the eye, in the way he pushes his lips together. So she invites him in.

Oliver doesn’t sit down on the couch, so she doesn’t either.

‘Come on’, she coaxes him, ‘what’s wrong?’

‘I just’, he takes a deep breath, ‘I wanted to thank you.’

‘No problem’, Felicity doesn’t hesitate. ‘For what?’

He smiles at her, rolling his eyes at the same time. It’s a familiar look.

‘For everything’, Oliver’s eyes settle on hers, and he smiles. ‘You were right. I… When I came back, I wasn’t my best. And I’m not my best now, but I want to be. And I can’t do it alone.’

‘Oliver’, she says softly, but he stops her from talking, by taking another step towards her.

‘You’ve been doing all the upgrades for me since you were 10’, he breathes out, smiling a bit. ‘Of course you’d keep doing it.’

‘Of course’, Felicity agrees, nodding slowly, smiling greatly.

‘That’s not it, though’, she says, narrowing her eyes. ‘There’s still something on your mind.’

‘You’, Oliver breathes out. ‘Still you.’

Felicity frowns some more.

Then, in the most shocking moment that has ever happened in her life, and that’s saying something, Oliver takes a deep breath, another step forward, and he puts his hands on her cheeks and -

Felicity probably stops breathing when Oliver kisses her. 

That doesn’t stop her from kissing him back.

↗↖

When they get to the Foundry the next morning, Tommy looks at Oliver for a long while.

Well, he looks at the clothes Oliver’s wearing, which are the same clothes he wore yesterday.

‘Oliver’, he says in what’s supposed to be a menacing tone, ‘stay away from my little sister.’

Oliver grins, putting a hand around her waist. ‘Too late’.


	39. Casually, drowning.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [chucklestheturtle](http://chucklestheturtle.tumblr.com/) asked: _I would love a lifeguard/sandlot olicity au. "I pretended to drown and ask for swimming lessons just so that I can get close to you"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not _quite_ the prompt, but uh, it's fun

Most people would be excited about the opportunity to spend their entire summer vacation in a five star resort on the seaside. Oliver, not so much. Because he’s being dragged there by his parents, and Thea’s coming too, and he’s not a teenager anymore, he shouldn’t be forced to still take vacations with his parents.

But here he is. A gift, they say, before Oliver starts being an adult, working at his parent’s company, now that he finally got a college degree.

Well, at least he’ll get a tan. And there are a lot of pools to choose from, and the ocean, of course. There are also a lot of gorgeous women prancing around in barely there bathing suits, and… Thea is constantly by his side.

There are worse places to be, Oliver is aware, so he puts on a grin for his little sister and does his best to keep her happy.

⤧

She’s the first girl Oliver actively notices. Meaning, he notices her more than once.

She’s a lifeguard, who is always stationed at the biggest swimming pool, alternating her shifts between the day and night ones. It’s not creepy that he learned this, it’s not.

But maybe he always takes Thea at that pool. Maybe. He argues that she’s a big girl, she can totally handle the big pool, and Thea buys it.

The lifeguard is a beautiful young woman, a couple of years younger than him, maybe. She has long blonde hair, that’s always up in a ponytail, her legs are long, defined and tanned, and her lips are always painted bright pink, even if they kinda clash with the bright red of her swimming suit, and with the yellow shirt all the staff wears.

She’s absolutely gorgeous, and usually, Oliver would have talked to her days ago. But for some reason, he can’t do that. He’s… shy. Which isn’t a thing he has never been since he was 8.

So Oliver keeps to himself, keeps an eye out for her, politely refuses all the woman who all but throw themselves at him. Thea asks if he’s sick. He would find it hilarious, under normal circumstances.

⤧

He finds out her name two weeks into their stay.

It’s after dinner one evening, Thea is happily splashing around in the pool, with her Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles swimming aid around her waist, only a few other teenagers around. Really, Oliver is the oldest one around, it’s making him feel uncomfortable.

Oliver keeps an eye out for Thea, but he doesn’t go into the water, opting to sit on a lounge chair nearby and pretend to read.

When his little sister starts screaming, Oliver is off his chair in an instant. She seems fine, though, she’s holding herself by the edge of a pool, pointing to something on the other side of it.

Oliver looks over, but he doesn’t see anything, except for some ripples in the water. And then, he hears a woman’s voice, yelling after an ambulance, and when Oliver looks over, he sees the girl running straight to the pool, taking off her shirt on the way. She doesn’t hesitate in jumping into the water, and when Oliver doesn’t see her anymore, he gets Thea out of the water.

It’s a long time until the lifeguard resurfaces and when Oliver sees her dragging an unconscious looking teenager with her, he moves to help.

He drags the teenager out of the pool and lies him down, and when he moves to help her out, she’s already pushing herself out of the pool.

She doesn’t hesitate in moving to the teenagers’ side, and she looks for a pulse, cursing violently, and ordering Oliver to keep his head straight. He does so, as she start giving CPR, and Oliver is ashamed by it, but he stares.

A lot.

At the rise and fall of her chest, on the way water dribbles out of her hair, on the way her lips meet the teenagers’.

When the poor guy starts breathing again, she’s there to help him to his side, and then the EMTs get there, and it’s all a rush of movement, that Oliver can’t keep up with.

But in the chaos of it all, he sees one of the EMTs grabbing her shoulder, telling her ‘Good job, Felicity!’.

Felicity.

It’s a nice name. It suits her.

After the EMTs leave with the teenager on a gurney, she comes to Oliver’s side.

‘Thank you for the help’, she says, and Oliver shakes himself out of his stupor, runs to his chair and gets his towel, handing it to her.

She seems very grateful, and Oliver fights down his blush.

‘I didn’t do much’, he shrugs, ‘you’re the hero’.

It’s her turn to blush, looking down and biting on her lower lip and it’s the most adorable and sexy thing Oliver has ever seen.

Then Thea’s there, bravely grabbing a hold of Felicity’s hand and asking her if she’s okay.

‘Why wouldn’t I be?’, Felicity frowns down at his little sister.

‘You just jumped!’, Thea all but yelled. ‘Took your shirt off while running, and you just jumped after him! And you were there for a long time, and you came out and dragged him out and’, Thea stops to take a deep breath, ‘You’re awesome! You’re a superhero!’

Felicity blushes even more, but Oliver sees that she grips Thea’s hand a bit more tightly.

‘It’s my job, little one. And I’m good at it!’

‘I’m not little’, Thea says, because of course she does. ‘My name is Thea Queen, and this is my big idiot brother, Oliver.’

He rolls his eyes, while Felicity giggles.

‘I’m Felicity’, she grins at them. ‘Very nice to meet you.’

Thea turns to Oliver. ‘I don’t wanna swim anymore.’

‘Good’, he can’t help but sigh, relieved.

‘You’re a good swimmer, though’, Felicity lets go of Thea’s hand so she can ruffle her hair. ‘I’ve seen you, you’re pretty advanced for your age.’

Thea grins, proud. Oliver can’t help but share the feeling.

They leave with a parting goodbye from Felicity, paired with a smile. Oliver can’t calm down his heartbeat until he falls asleep.

⤧

The next time Felicity has the night shift, Oliver is there. He’s the only one there, at 2AM, and he waves at Felicity. She waves back, before going back to the book she was reading.

Oliver swims a couple of lengths, and after that he just splashes around, relaxing his muscles. He takes a deep breath at some point, closing his eyes and going under.

He doesn’t realize how long he stays there, so he’s very startled by hands wrapping around his waist and pulling him up.

When he opens his eyes, Felicity is looking at him, concern evident, her hands still around his waist.

‘Are you okay?’, she asks.

‘Why wouldn’t I be?’, Oliver frowns.

‘Oh god’, she takes her hands away from his body like she’s been burned. ‘I’m sorry, it’s just that you were down for a long time’, she says in a rush, ‘and you’re a pretty decent swimmer, but not that good, and it’s late and I -’

‘Felicity’, he says smiling, putting a hand on her shoulder, effectively shutting her up. ‘Thank you for saving me, even if I didn’t need it.’

She sighs, and looks down, blushing and biting her lower lip again.

‘I’m sorry’, she all but whines and Oliver can’t help but laugh.

He pushes himself out of the pool and extends a hand to Felicity. She doesn’t need it, but she takes it, letting him drag her out.

They keep smiling at one another as they grab their towels and wrap themselves in them and Oliver’s heart is going a mile a minute.

But Felicity is smiling at him, and she’s blushing and he cannot not say something.

‘So do you uh, ever get an evening off?’

She frowns at him. ‘Every other day, yeah.’

‘Would you possibly-’, Oliver falters, and has to take a deep breath. ‘Would you like to go out with me, sometime? Some drinks or…’, he frowns, ‘whatever it is to do here. I’m not quite sure.’

‘Oh my god’, Felicity whispers, staring at him with wide eyes.

‘Yes’, she says quickly after, nodding strongly. ‘Yes, I’d like that. Please.’

‘Tomorrow?’, Oliver grins, and once again, she nods.

He goes to sleep that night with a massive grin on his face.

⤧

Oliver begs his father for the car. His old man teases him, and laughs at him, but he also gives Oliver his car keys and a tie.

He takes Felicity to the closest town, to a nice and slightly impressive Italian restaurant, and she looks lovely in it, grinning at him with her hair falling around her face in soft curls, wearing a dark purple dress and heels.

Afterwards, they walk on the beach, talking and teasing, and she wraps her hands around his and it’s so good, Oliver doesn’t ever remember feeling this good during a first date.

And then, when they get to a more secluded part of the beach, she grabs his hands and pushes her body as close to his as she can.

‘Can I kiss you, please? I mean, please, can you kiss me? Cause I’m having a great time and I really like you and-’

He silences her with his lips and it’s more than good.

⤧

He doesn’t really stop kissing Felicity after that.

Every other night, when she’s free, they go out on dates. Different restaurants, a couple of movies, more often than not they end up on a beach.

They kiss each other like they’re never going to be able to do it again, but they also talk, a lot, and she doesn’t judge him, for all the mistakes he made. Cause she knows about them, everybody knows about how much of a douchebag Oliver Queen is.

But she likes him, she keeps telling him. That he’s nothing like the tabloids paint him to be, and Oliver falls, and he falls hard.

So that's why it hurts, when Oliver realizes that he’s going to be leaving in a week. He probably won’t see her again, and it hurts so much.

Oliver tells her. Felicity’s reaction is to take him to her room and sleep with him. Just sleep. They don’t have sex, they just kiss until they’re both yawning more than kissing, and Oliver wakes up wrapped around her.

It hurts even more.

⤧

Oliver spends his last night in Felicity’s room. They don’t sleep together, not exactly, but they take off each other’s clothes, and they kiss more desperately than ever. And Oliver uses his fingers to make her scream his name, and she uses her mouth to make him scream hers and it hurts so much.

He doesn’t close one eye all night.

He spends the night watching Felicity sleep, and daydreaming about how their lives could be, if he didn’t have to leave.

But he has to.

In the morning, he tries to give Felicity his phone number, all but begging her to keep in touch.

‘I’m sorry, my dear’, she smiles, wrapping her arms around his waist, ‘I don’t really believe in long-distance relationships.’

He figured as much, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt.

She gives him one last long, long kiss, soft and sweet, and Oliver’s absolutely depressed all the way back to Starling City. And the weeks after that, as he broods in his apartment, even if he was supposed to be reading reports and getting ready for his new job.

⤧

He has a secretary. It feels weird. But he is grateful for her, because she sees to know what she’s doing, and she seems to know what he’s supposed to be doing, so it’s good.

‘I’ll just get someone from IT to set up your e-mail’, she tells him on the second day, and Oliver just nods. He’s exhausted already.

‘Mister Queen’, a familiar voice says a while after, and Oliver freezes.

But, eventually, he turns around, and there she is. Felicity, with her hair up in a pony tail, with her usual pink lipstick, and a shirt with small arrows on it, tucked away in a pencil skirt, on heels, with a tablet in her hands, a lanyard around her neck and a grin on her face.

‘I hear you need my help’, she says, and Oliver moves.

He all but runs to her, violently takes the tablet out of her hands and throws it on the couch. Then, he wraps his hands around her waist, and kisses her like he usually did, like he'd never get to do it again.

When they break apart, she's grinning up at him.

‘So’, Felicity breathes out. ‘I just started working here a week ago, I don’t know what the company policy is about dating a fellow employee. Or a boss, I guess.’

Oliver kisses her again, shorter this time.

‘Felicity, my name is on the building. I can do whatever I want.’

She laughs at that, and hugs him tightly, and over her shoulder, he sees his secretary gaping at them, Oliver’s father by her side, grinning widely.


	40. At least you have underwear on this time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _Could you do a trope where instead of Felicity walking in on a naked Oliver it's the other way around?_
> 
> And a plus one.

**⟶One**

They have a bathroom all for themselves, and it’s the most ridiculous thing Oliver has ever came across, but apparently, being the CEO of one of the biggest firms in the country had its perks.

It was lunch time, so he didn’t think Felicity was anywhere else except for out at lunch, so he was startled when he went into their bathroom and found her there.

Shirtless.

Felicity was shirtless.

The shirt she was wearing before, the white one, it was laying on the ground, and there was a new shirt, a purple one, neatly folded on the counter.

And Felicity was wearing a simple white bra, and she was running a wet towel over her chest. And she was frozen in place, blush high on her cheeks and low on her chest, staring at him with wide eyes.

Oliver snapped out of it, and quickly turned his back around.

‘I spilled coffee on myself’, Felicity said, slowly.

Oliver nodded. ‘I’ll just wait outside.’

 

**⟶Two**

Coming back from a patrol, this was not the sight that Oliver expected to find in the Foundry.

Felicity was crying, rubbing alcohol wipes on her legs, her bare legs, because her pants were thrown on the ground next to her.

Her panties were pink. They said _Bon appétit_.

But Felicity was crying, so he snapped out of it and rushed to her side.

‘I went to get a cup of coffee at the bar’, she said through her sobs. ‘There was a jerk who got too handsy, way to handsy.’

Oliver was ready to go out there right now, but he didn’t want to leave her alone.

‘Tiny got him.’, she said, and Oliver frowned.

‘Tiny is the bouncer’, she explained, and Oliver didn’t get it, because Tiny was bigger than him and Digg combined, but he didn’t ask.

‘I’m just being stupid’, Felicity said in a rush. ‘He didn’t actually hurt me, he just touched my legs and said some disgusting things, but I-’

She didn’t finish that sentence, too focused on rubbing down her bare legs. Oliver stopped her, by gently grabbing her wrist, and Felicity just… fell against him. Her forehead was on his chest, and Oliver wrapped himself around her as best as he could.

After she quieted down, he gave her a pair of his sweatpants and took her home, where he spent the night on her couch.

 

**⟶Three**

It was Oliver’s fault, for coming unannounced. And for using her spare key to get into her apartment.

So it was his fault, for walking in on Felicity making breakfast. Naked.

They just stared at each other for a few long seconds. Oliver did his best to look at her face. Only at her face.

It didn’t work so well.

That was when Felicity yelped, and ran out of there, to her bedroom.

She came out a couple of minutes later, wearing clothes and a very impressive blush, telling him with authority how they will be forgetting this ever happened.

 

**⟶Four**

Oliver stormed into the warehouse in full gear, with rage bleeding out of every pore.

He didn’t even notice the fact that Felicity was naked until all the assholes who took her were on the ground, bleeding and groaning.

He didn’t even notice that Felicity was naked until he rushed to unbind her.

She was crying, profoundly so, she had cuts on her body and bruises already forming, but she’ll be okay. She has to be.

Oliver didn’t hesitate, in taking off his hood and wrapping it around her, holding her close to his chest until Felicity took a deep breath and told him that she’s okay.

 

**⟶Five**

‘Why am I here?’, Oliver asked for the billionth time.

‘Your sister is getting married’, Felicity informed him, like he didn’t already know that. ‘You’re here to help her pick out a wedding dress, and to help us pick bridesmaid dresses.’

‘I don’t understand how you think I could possibly help with that.’

Felicity just smiled at him, and Laurel snickered.

The woman from the store came out with a new type of dress for her and Laurel, and they both bounced away to try it on.

It was a beautiful dress, and it suited both of them. A corset with a long gown, with a very sexy slit up the thigh. They both liked it, and Thea liked it, so it was decided that this will be what they will be wearing, but in another color. Bright red. Oliver didn’t have it in him to comment.

‘Uh, I need help’, Felicity said from inside the changing booth.

‘Me too’, Laurel piped up.

Thea wordlessly went to Laurel’s stall, and Oliver was left going to Felicity’s.

‘I can’t take it off’, she pouted at him, turning her back to his.

The zipper was half way down already, and Oliver could see the black lace bra Felicity had on, but he tried to ignored it.

Instead, he took a deep breath and dealt with the stuck zipper.

It didn't work too well, and Oliver grew frustrated, so he might have used a bit more force than it was necessary.

The zipper went down, as did the dress, and Oliver was left staring at Felicity's back, at the way the bra was just a bit too tight, at the way the tag of her matching black lace panties was sticking out.

Felicity whined, and that forced him to look up, meeting her eyes in the mirror. She wasn’t even blushing.

‘Why does this keep happening?’, she whined again.

‘At least you have underwear on this time’, Oliver said, which was a bad move, considering Laurel and Thea both started asking questions from the next stall.

 

**⟶Plus one**

Thea’s wedding was an absolute success, despite the fact that Oliver kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. But it didn’t, and he spent the night alternating between dancing with his sister, and dancing and kissing Felicity.

When Oliver got out of the bathroom of the room they rented in the hotel the reception was held at, Felicity was waiting for him.

In the middle of the bed, stark naked, her hair down, no makeup on, a foil of condoms dangling from her hand.

Good thing, too, because Oliver didn’t bother packing pajamas.


	41. What's wrong?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [@Pally_The_Second](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Pally_The_Second/pseuds/Pally_The_Second) asked: _could you do one were olicity has a baby and roy starts acting out and oliver and felicity have to have the "just because there's a new baby doesn't mean we love you less" speech._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's a quicky!

Felicity thought her life was going to change drastically when her and Oliver’s child will be born.

And it did. Good lord, it did.

But there were some things that didn’t change, that will probably never change.

Like how she saw patterns where other people didn’t. Like how she understood some things before anybody else did. Like how she cared for her friends and she’s willing to do anything to help them.

That is why Felicity was the first one to figure out Roy had a problem with her child.

∆

After their bundle of joy was born, Felicity stayed home with Dawn, their baby daughter.

The board of directors was in charge of the company, but they still called and asked when there was a really important decision to be made.

She still went to the Foundry, sometimes, but mostly she worked for home. And when she did go to the Foundry, she’d have to take Dawn with her.

So Felicity noticed a few things. She started noticing them while she was still in the hospital, really.

Roy kept his distance. He didn’t hold Dawn, and while he was smiling and seemed happy for them, he stayed at least two feet away.

Same thing happened when Dawn was with them in the Foundry.

But it wasn’t just that, it was more than that.

It was how every other night, Oliver would come home annoyed at Roy. It wasn’t that Roy didn’t listen to Oliver anymore, not exactly, not every time, but he started taking a lot more liberties. Oliver thought it was dangerous, and he tried to talk to Roy about it.

But Felicity knew her husband and Roy both, so she knew that wasn’t going to work. And it didn’t, Roy still acted up.

And it was the fact that Roy stopped talking to Felicity. And Oliver as well, even if he didn’t realize it.

So Felicity took matters inro her own hands.

∆

One night, she took Dawn to the Foundry, just as the boys were coming back from their patrol.

Felicity kicked Oliver and Digg out, waited for Roy to take a shower and change, and then she all but threw him down into a chair and pushed Down into his arms.

Roy was startled, kind of in shock, completely not moving, so Felicity guided him along, moved his hands where they were supposed to stay, so that he could hold Dawn properly.

He went along with it, but still looked spooked out. It took a long while for him to calm down, and it only happened when Dawn woke up and started laughing and smiling up at Roy.

Felicity crouched down in front of Roy, steadying herself with a hand on his knees, and she just looked at her daughter for a while.

‘You wanna tell me what’s wrong?’, Felicity started.

Roy shook his head.

‘Not an option’, she said, keeping her tone calm and as soothing as she could. ‘Something’s been bothering you, since Dawn was born, and I really… I don’t know what it is, but I’m scared of it.’

That made Roy look up, the unasked question clear.

‘You’ve distanced yourself from us since Dawn was born’, Felicity told him slowly, ‘and I’m scared of what that means.’

Roy looked back down to Dawn, and Felicity was very surprised to see shame on his features. It took a while for him to start talking, but Felicity waited him out.

‘I was afraid you were gonna stop.’

‘Stop what?’, Felicity frowned.

‘Fighting’, Roy breathed out, not looking at her. ‘I thought that once Dawn was born, you’ll realize that you can be happy without … going out every night, looking for a fight.’

Felicity sighed.

‘That’s not what we do’, is what she decided on saying. ‘We don’t pick fights, we save people.’

‘Yeah, I know’, Roy quickly shook his head. ‘I know that, sorry, bad choice of words.’

Felicity sighed, taking Dawn away from Roy’s arms. She was back to sleep, so she put the baby back in her traveling shell, and then made her way to Roy’s side once again.

He got up from his chair, so it wasn’t hard for Felicity to wrap her arms around him. Roy stiffened, but he still hugged her back.

‘I love you, you stupid, stupid boy.’, Felicity said. ‘Oliver and I both. You’re our friend, and you’re Oliver’s partner, and nothing will ever change that.’

‘I can’t…’, Roy rasped out. ‘I can’t have you leave me.’

‘Not happening’, Felicity told his as strongly as possible, tightening her hold on him. ‘I promise you, nothing like that will ever happen. You’re stuck with us. So get your head out of your ass and stop acting out.’

Roy huffed, slightly amused, and stopped the hug. There were unshed tears in his eyes, but Felicity decided not to mention them.

‘Don’t curse in front of your baby’, Roy said, and Felicity rolled her eyes.

Things were back to normal.

Yeah, they were back to normal.


	42. Dreaming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon: After the newest episode,3x20 I need an Olicity rescue mission from Ra's! Anything to get Oliver home and back in Felicity's arms!  
> [dizzyreyne2020](http://dizzyreyne2020.tumblr.com/) asked: _I know your pink on green is closed, but I just watched the current last episode (where Oliver joins LoA), and if eventually you would do a prego Felicity finding the LoA Oliver she's prego and it's his I would love you forever!!!!!!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So uh after 3x20. Let’s just assume that just before Felicity got together with Ray, she and Oliver shared a night. That makes sense, right? … I don’t remember what actually happened, it’s a bit of a blur and I couldn’t be bothered to actually watch the episodes. Oops. Anyways. Here's a quicky

‘We weren’t expecting you’, Digg frowned down at Felicity, even if he opened the front door and urged her to come inside.

‘I’m sorry if I’m interrupting’, Felicity smiled, going straight to the couch, ‘but I really need to talk to you about something.’

She doesn’t get to say what she needs to talk about, because Lyla comes in then, Sara in toe. Then it’s a blur of cooing and baby holding, but John can still see it.

Something’s changed with Felicity.

It was to be expected, he thought, they just got back from Nanda Parbat. They came back, Oliver didn’t. Oliver stayed.

But this was something more. The way Felicity was looking at Sara, the way she was holding the baby girl… this was something more.

Felicity caught him staring. She sniffled twice, a clear sign of the fact that she was struggling not to cry.

‘I’m pregnant’, she said, holding onto Sara a bit more tightly.

‘Congratulations’, Lyla said after a beat. ‘Does Ray know?’

Felicity laughed, completely unamused. ‘It’s not Ray’s.’

‘Oh’, Lyla breathed out. John cursed, making Felicity turn to look at him.

‘I didn’t tell him, when we were in Nanda Parbat. I should have.’

Digg agreed, but didn’t say so out loud.

‘I need your help’, Felicity breathed out. ‘To get him back.’

Even if John ever thought of refusing Felicity, the look Lyla was giving him would have stopped him.

‘We’re gonna need help’, Digg said, and Felicity smiled at him, nodding, and sighing in relief.

□ⱡ□

They plan. They bring Laurel in, and Thea and even Roy comes back to help. Ray doesn’t hesitate, and Barry doesn’t either.

But in the end, they don’t get to save Oliver from Nanda Parbat, because Oliver comes back to Starling City. And it’s a mess.

A hot mess.

He doesn’t come back for them, he comes back because that’s what Ra’s wanted him to do. Oliver kidnaps Lyla, and Felicity fears that Digg will honest to god kill him.

But he doesn’t.

It’s a hot mess, and when Felicity gets home, she can’t do anything except for change into her pajamas and curl on the couch, crying.

□ⱡ□

That’s how Oliver finds her.

He comes through the window, wearing the League of Assassins outfit, and that makes Felicity want to throw up.

So that’s what she does. She runs to the bathroom and throws up.  It’s not a big deal, because apparently Felicity was the type of woman to have morning sickness all day around.

When she comes back to the living room, Oliver looks concerned, but she tells him she’s fine. Her voice breaks, so she changes tactics.

‘Why are you here? You want to kidnap me too?’

Oliver’s face breaks, he looks devastated.

‘I have a plan’, Oliver says, slowly.

So he’s still on their side. The good side. Well, that’s good to know, but it’s not very comforting, for Felicity.

‘Is it a good plan?’, she asks, and Oliver nods.

‘It’s crazy, but it’ll work.’

Felicity nods. ‘Tell me about it.’

He doesn’t. ‘I can’t.’

‘Fine’, she bits out. ‘Then let me tell you something.’

She takes a deep breath, but she has to say it. She _has_ to tell him.

‘I’m pregnant’, Felicity doesn’t sugar coat it, but she makes sure to look Oliver in the eyes. ‘It’s yours, obviously, and I really hope your plan works. Because now, more than ever, I can’t lose you.’

He’s crying, Felicity realizes. He’s looking at her with wide eyes and she really, really hates what he’s wearing.

‘Promise me’, she says, whispers really, but he still hears her.

Oliver nods, quickly. ‘Are you… Are you-‘

‘I’m fine’, Felicity cuts him off. ‘But I can’t… seeing you wearing that. It’s wrong. It’s the wrong hood and I can’t-‘, her voice breaks. ‘I can’t take it.’

She turns around and heads to her bedroom and thankfully, Oliver doesn’t follow.

□ⱡ□

They don’t mention _it_.

They say “I love you”s and “I need you”s, but they don’t mention it.

Not until the first night on the road, when they rent a modest room in a motel on the side of an interstate. Then, Oliver kisses her sweetly and lies down with his head against her belly.

It’s not visible yet, the baby, but he doesn’t seem to mind it.

‘I’m not dreaming?’, Oliver asks, as Felicity runs her fingers through his hair. She chuckles and pushes her nails into his skin.

‘Ow’, Oliver mumbles, even if Felicity knows she didn’t actually hurt him.

‘Seems pretty real, right?’, she smiles, and Oliver tightens his hold on her. She can feel him smiling against her belly, where their child is growing as they speak, and really, Felicity has never felt as happy as she does right now.

‘It’s going to feel even more real’, she goes on, ‘in the morning, when I’m going to throw up and you’re going to have to hold my hair.’

Oliver grins at her, and the way he does it… it shows her he’s just as happy as she is.


	43. The blood, unbinding.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _Hey, are you accepting Arrow prompts? Because I was thinking about a Dracula crossover, where Felicity resembles Mina making Dracula come for her and the team tries to protect their IT girl at all costs._
> 
> ... loosely. so very loosely. i mean. it does have a vampire, yes.

No matter how busy they were with their day jobs, Felicity and Oliver always went to the bunker after they were done for the day.

The rest of the team could handle patrol on their own, but still, even if they spent only a couple of minutes with them, Felicity and Oliver always went to the Foundry at the end of the day.

Today, it’s well past midnight when they arrive, straight from a party thrown for raising campaign funds for Oliver.

Thea was with them, and they were all pretty drained out from the mindless chatter they had to put up with. So that’s why Felicity didn’t even notice him at first.

But then she did notice him. He was standing at the table, leaning his hip against it. His hands were crossed, there was a small smile on his face and he was dressed, as usual, in all black.

‘Dick!’, Felicity exclaimed, excited.

That’s before her brain caught up with her. That’s before she realized that he shouldn’t be here. He shouldn’t know, about her, about the Arrow, about their secret base.

Just as she realized these things, Oliver marched up at Dick and caught him, and Thea headed to the closest weapon she could find, which appeared to be a gun.

‘Well, well, well’, Dick whispered, Felicity didn’t really think he could do much than that with Oliver’s fingers around his throat, ‘looks like you’ve got a strong one, Smoak.’

Oliver faltered at hearing her name, and Felicity came to his side, giving him a look. Thankfully he understood exactly what she meant. He let go of Dick and took a step back, but he was ready to intervene again.

‘Dick’, Felicity turned back to him. ‘It’s lovely to see you, but you really shouldn’t be here.’

He smirked.

There was something wrong with him, Felicity thought. Maybe he was sick, his skin was oddly pale, even for him. And there was something in his eyes. Felicity couldn’t read it, and she could usually read Dick very well. Always could.

Dick shrugged. ‘Why not? How else am I supposed to find you?’

‘You could have called’, Felicity pointed out, unsuccessful in hiding her sarcasm. ‘Or texted. Or e-mailed. Or made an appointment with my office.’

‘How did you know to come here?’, Oliver asked, and Felicity nodded.

Dick grinned at Oliver. It didn’t look very friendly.

‘Wanted to meet the big bad Arrow who managed to get Smoak all wrapped around his fingers.’

Felicity and Oliver both opened their mouths to deny it, but Dick had other ideas.

‘How did you manage to do that, Queen?’, he all but leered at Oliver. ‘Cause I’ve tried for _years_ and she never gave me the light of day.’

‘Who are you?’, Oliver asked, gruffly.

Dick turned to look at her.

‘You never even told him about me? I’m hurt, Felicity.’

He didn’t sound hurt. He sounded amused.

‘Oliver, this is Dick Grayson. We were friends in highschool and college.’

‘Oh, we aren’t friends anymore?’, Dick asked. ‘That’s a shame, cause you’re coming with me.’

‘Excuse me?’, she frowned.

Dick smirked. His eyes widened for a second, in the direction of Oliver and then Thea, and when he turned to look at her, he smirked.

‘You’re coming with me, sweetheart. Once and for all.’

‘What the hell are you on about?’, she shrieked. ‘I’m not going anywhere with you.’

Then, Dick moved. Fast. Too fast than it should have been possible, not as fast as the Flash, but still fast enough for him to pick Felicity up without giving her a chance to fight back properly.

She trashed against him, kicked and tried to get away, but he was strong. Too strong. She couldn’t.

And Oliver and Thea were frozen in place.

Literally, they stood frozen, completely ignoring Felicity’s cries.

‘Sleep, my love’, Dick told her and Felicity felt sick to her stomach, but she suddenly found herself exhausted.

†

She woke up feeling incredibly weak.

Her head was spinning and it took a long while for Felicity to manage to open her eyes.

She was in a very, very luxurious apartment. Everything around her was either white (like the walls, the furniture and the carpet) or stainless steel (like the dining table and the chairs). But the windows were covered, she couldn’t see anything past the white blinds.

She was lying down on a very plush bed and upon further inspection, she wasn’t wearing the gown she was wearing for the party. Instead, now she was dressed in a pair of short jeans and a polo shirt.

On one hand, she realized the fact that this was how she dressed for most of her high school life. Dick must have remembered that.

Speaking of Dick.

He was by one of the covered windows, and he slowly turned to her.

‘You’re awake’, he smiled and while it scared her, it also annoyed her.

‘What the hell is wrong with you?’, she asked, slowly.

He tilted his head, making his way towards the bed. She flinched, hard, and pushed her back all the way up to the wall, but Dick just smiled and sat down next to her.

‘I’m very glad you’re here with me.’, he smiled warmly at her.

‘You kidnapped me!’, Felicity shrieked.

Dick shrugged. ‘You’ll get over it eventually. With love, you can get over everything.’

‘Love?’, Felicity mouthed the word.

‘I have always loved you’, Dick smiled, and it made her sick to her stomach.

‘But now’, he lowered his head, ‘I am finally able to make you love me.’

‘What does that mean?’

The smile fell away from his face. ‘Don’t move’, he said gravely, and Felicity couldn’t.

She wanted to move, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t move her pinky, she couldn’t move her feet, she couldn’t even blink. All she could do was breathe. And move her eyes.

So in her panic, Felicity still saw him.

She saw Dick licking his lips. She saw him closing his eyes and cracking the bones in his neck.

She saw his eyes lit up. They were red. They were flashing red.

She saw him opening his mouth. And she saw his teeth growing. She saw his fangs growing.

She saw his face changing, his features hardening.

She saw him finally focusing back on her.

She saw him smiling around his fangs, which was terrifying.

‘I’m not going to hurt you, Felicity’, Dick whispered to her. ‘I promise I won’t. I’ll stop in time.’

It didn’t make much sense and it made her even more afraid.

Then Dick took her hand. She felt his finger tips on her wrist, and she felt his nails racking over her skin.

And then she saw Dick bringing her hand up to his lips. She saw and felt him place a small kiss there, before sinking his teeth into her skin.

She wanted to scream.

But she couldn’t.

She could only watch, as he sucked the blood out of her veins, as a small drop of it escaped and slowly made its way down onto the pristine white of the sheets.

He stopped, eventually. Dick licked the blood from his lips, and he smiled at her. Then, he moved to the bedside table, grabbing something from it.

It was a bandage, that he wrapped around her waist.

After he was done, he let go of her hand and smiled at her.

‘You can move now.’

Felicity screamed. Dick didn’t even flinch.

‘Sleep now’, he said, and even if Felicity woke up just a few minutes ago, that is what she did.

†

It went on for days.

Dick would wake her up. Sometimes, she’d be wearing different clothes, always variations of shorts and tshirts.

Sometimes, they’d eat. Well, he’d bring her food and watch her eat.

Other times, he would eat. Eat her. Drink her blood.

He’d talk to her. At her, because Felicity didn’t talk back. She couldn’t, she wouldn’t.

And, somehow, for some reason, he didn’t make her.

He could, she knew he had the power to do it. Dick could’ve made her do absolutely anything. All he did was make her sleep.  And stop crying.

But he talked at her. Smiled, and laughed, and it would have been nice, Felicity thought.

She could have fallen in love with Dick. She could have done it in high school and she could have done it now.

If it wasn’t for Oliver.

And if it wasn’t for the fact that she felt like he was raping her every time he sank his teeth into her wrist.

She couldn’t even cry.

‘You’ll love me soon enough, Felicity’, he’d tell her every time. ‘You will. Sleep now.’

She remembered every nightmare she had.

†

Felicity was awake when Batman crashed into the window.

So she saw everything. She saw Batman and Dick fighting and she gathered that they have worked together before, before Dick got turned.

She cried as the men fought.

Felicity has no idea if Dick is dead or not, but when Batman came in front of her, she flinched.

‘I’m not going to hurt you, Mrs. Smoak’, he said, voice gruff and she nods.

‘I know, I just… please, don’t touch me.’

He looked at her for a while. Then, he pushed a button on his mask, and it came off.

She should have been surprised to see Bruce Wayne. She didn’t have enough strength for it.

‘I’m really not going to hurt you, Felicity’, he said in his normal voice.

He extended a hand, not touching her, and Felicity stared at it. Hesitated.

‘Oliver’s going insane’, Bruce said, and Felicity stared at him.

‘Come on’, he smiled slightly, ‘let me take you to him before the Arrow ruins my city.’

‘We’re in Gotham?’, she breathed out.

Bruce nodded. ‘You’ve been gone for a week.’

She cried harder at that. She started sobbing, really. Bruce’s hand was still in front of her, so Felicity took it.

‘Please take me to Oliver.’

Batman smiled.

†

Oliver didn’t let her out of his sight for a full week. Heck, he barely let her get out of bed.

But she had to ask. She had to.

‘So. We owe Batman one, huh? Or do we owe Bruce Wayne? Is he gonna make me give him more tech? We signed a contract, you know.’

Oliver laughed. ‘I’m so glad you’re safe.’

Yeah, Felicity thought. Yeah.

She’ll just ignore the fact that vampires are real. And she’ll pray she’ll never meet one again.  She’ll just… convince Oliver to stay home for another week.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> APPARENTLY  
> on Earth-43, Batman is a vampire. and so is Dick Grayson. [no shiet.](http://batman.wikia.com/wiki/Bat-Man_\(Earth-43\))


	44. Married at First Sight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _Have you ever watched married at first sight? It's basically about four experts pairing off people who they think are absolutely perfect for each other. The participants once they see who they marry are either happy or have an fml moment, they end up falling in love. Can you do an AU for oliver and Felicity. It can be funny and sweet. I just would love to see this happen and you're one of my favorite authors_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Never have I watched such a show, but this was fun to think about :)

Felicity’s life was weird.

Well, no, it was a good life, but it had some weird pieces.

She started her career as an IT specialist at Queen Consolidated, and now she was the right hand of the head of Applied Sciences.

That meant that she was present at every meeting, involved in every project, asked before every decision and everybody on the board of directors knew her name.

It was a good job, that she enjoyed doing. And she was good at it.

The weird piece came in the form of Oliver Queen, active CEO of the company.

He hated Felicity. And she hated him right back. Mostly.

She has no idea what Oliver’s problem with her was, but he does not care for her. They always fight, as politely as possible, but there are a lot of insults thrown when they’re in the same room together.

But it’s weird, because no matter how much dirt he throws at her, Oliver always takes her opinion into account. And she respects him a whole lot, because Oliver is a strong, smart man, who tries his best to fill in the shoes he needs to as head of QC.

And it’s weird, because Felicity knows, she _knows_ that they could get along. They think the same, and they’re similar in some ways, and different in others.

Honestly, she has more things in common with Oliver than with her last boyfriend.

But he hated her. So that was that.

₪

It was her idea, actually. Felicity vividly remembers that particular board meeting.

The PR and Marketing people were saying that something had to be done, to get QC more publicity. While the company was profiting from all their contracts with other companies, QC had no visibility to the nation, to the Average Joe.

But they didn’t want to do a normal publicity campaign. Instead, the Marketing department suggested something more … easier, she described it as.

Social media. Oliver was supposed to get a twitter and instagram and all that jazz. Felicity as well, because her boss was an old man who hated the internet, and she was a charismatic woman who looked good on camera.

‘I already have all that’, Felicity couldn’t help but point out. ‘But there are not a lot of people lining up to follow me because of my job.’

‘We’ll work on that’, the head of Marketing, Martha, waved a dismissive hand. ‘And we’ll also work on your image. You’re going to have to do press.’

‘We already do enough press’, Oliver mumbled.

‘Not press conference, Mr. Queen’, Martha smiled sweetly at him. ‘I was thinking more along the lines of casual press. Parties, movie premiers, music festivals, things like that.’

The fear on Oliver’s face was priceless, and Felicity could relate.

‘Is that really necessary?’, she asked, and Martha was quick to nod.

‘Our vision is to make the two of you the image of QC. Make you relatable. Turn you into real people, not just these untouchable giants.’

Felicity pulled a face.

‘I get it’, she said, ‘I mean, it’s a good idea, really, but for Oliver. I don’t understand why I’m supposed to do it too.’

‘Cause you’re a woman’, Oliver sighed, making Felicity turn to look at him.

‘That’s it, right?’, he went on. ‘She’s a very strong woman figure, and if we… parade Felicity in front of the cameras, we’ll have more women interested in our work and products, not just geeky men.’

‘Yes’, Martha grinned. ‘Well, she’s not only smart, but she’s also a very attractive woman, so geeky men will also be interested.’

Oliver snorted. Felicity sighed.

‘You wanna turn us into the Kardashians’, Felicity sighed. ‘Without the dating and family drama.’

‘Yup.’

Felicity really didn’t like Martha right now.

But…

‘If you want to make us the Kardashians, why not… really make us like the Kardashians?’

‘No’, Oliver was quick to catch on. ‘We’re not getting a reality tv show.’

‘That would be a good idea, though’, Martha said. ‘A tv show, I mean.’ She frowned, starting up her tablet. ‘I’ll talk with my team and get back to you.’

So, really, it was Felicity’s idea. It all started because of Felicity’s idea.

And neither she, nor Oliver, could afford to say no. Even if neither of them were looking for a relationship right now.

That was paintastically clear, considering how they both worked long hours and how, at every party or QC gala they had to attend, they tended to stick together.

Not because they liked each other’s company, they didn’t even talk that much, really. But if they were side by side, nobody tried to flirt with them.

It was a weird, wordless understanding that they had going on. For the past two years. Felicity didn’t like to think about it too much.

₪

They didn’t get a full reality tv show.

What they did get was a special episode of Married at First Sight.

Oliver was a contestant, so was Felicity. The viewers seemed to be interested in them the most. There were four other people, who all worked pretty high up in the firm, but all the employees were involved as well.

Because the show runners will be setting them up with someone else employed at QC.

Felicity felt really awkward being in front of the camera, especially during the first interview.

They did it in her office, so she had the familiarity of it to ease her mind. But a camera was pointed straight at her face, and the person conducting the interview barely even looked up at her.

But Felicity answered the questions, no matter how stupid she thought they were or how personal they got.

Favorite color, favorite movie, first love story, worst nightmare, biggest fright. What made you work in IT? What made you move across the country? What’s the most important thing in QC for you?

What do you look for in a partner?

Turn ons? Turn offs?

By the time the crew left, Felicity had a headache.

₪

That wasn’t the end of it, though.

After the initial interview, she had to complete a test, a series of 1152 questions. Once again, they were all random, awkward, personal and borderline stupid. It took a full day, but Felicity did it.

After that, there was another interview, this time with one of the specialists of the show, Mark, a shrink who will be the one making the pairs.

This one was slightly better, because the man was nice. He was polite, and he was smiling, and he made Felicity feel like she was talking to a new friend.

There was only one weird moment during that interview, when he asked what was the most important thing in a relationship, from Felicity’s point of view.

‘Trust’, she said. ‘I don’t want to sound like a needy girlfriend, and I’m not even talking about the whole cheating business. I mean, yes, that’s important, but that’s not all.’

‘What do you mean?’, Mark urged her on.

Felicity took a moment to gather her thoughts.

‘My work may not seem like much, but it’s hard work. I’m a woman in a male dominated field. And while I’m really not the type to flirt my way into a contract, I feel like my partner needs to understand the fact that I will constantly be surrounded by other men.’

‘Has that been an issue in any of your past relationships?’

Felicity nodded. ‘I really can’t stand a jealous boyfriend, and I really don’t have time to be a jealous girlfriend. So I need a relationship based on trust. I need someone who trusts me enough to not check on me every other minute, and also…’

She hesitated.

‘Come on, Miss Smoak’, Mark smiled. ‘This is not going to work if you’re not truthful.’

‘I guess, what I’m trying to say is that… I’m a strong woman. I can take care of myself, I can make my own decisions. I need a partner who understands that, and who trusts me enough to let me do it. Yes, I’d like to find someone whom I can ask for help, or for his opinion, but the final decision will always be mine, and he should trust me enough to make that call.’

‘Trust has to go both ways’, the man raised an eyebrow, and it kind of pissed Felicity off.

‘Of course’, she said rather gruffly. ‘I told you before, I think a relationship is supposed to be _based_ on trust. So of course it goes both ways. But trust is also earned. So yes, while I will wait for him to earn his, I sure as heck am going to do my best to earn his.’

‘First of all’, the guy tilted his head, ‘you’re absolutely adorable when you get riled up and say _heck_.’

Felicity glared at him.

‘Second of all’, he went on, smirking, ‘you’re the second person who told me that today. The exact same thing, in different words, but still.’

Felicity hesitated. ‘That’s … good, isn’t it?’

The guy just grinned at her.

₪

The reveal was a big ass party, that Felicity was front and center of.

She was wearing a designer gown, a team of three specialists spent four hours on making her look this good, and her stomach was in the middle of a war.

The only comfort she had was that everybody else on the stage seemed just as nervous as she was.

Well. Oliver was. His fists were clenched and he did that thing, where he bit on nothing, making his jaw tick.

The other four people who were waiting to meet the love of their lives seemed nervous and excited, as well.

Not Felicity and Oliver.

‘I’m going to be sick’, Felicity told him as the camera was pointed on someone else.

‘Yeah’, Oliver quipped. ‘Why did we agree to this, again?’

‘We didn’t agree to anything’, Felicity shrugged. ‘But we couldn’t not agree with it.’

Oliver sighed. ‘You know, there’s a question I never got to ask. Do we have to… date this person? What if it doesn’t work out?’

Felicity stared at him. ‘That’s the first question I ever asked.’

He blinked, expectedly, at her.

‘We don’t have to.’, she shook her head. ‘We have to go on a date, with the cameras around, and we have to get to know each other. After that, we’re allowed to do whatever. In a couple of months, the cameras will come back around, and they’ll do a follow up. But we don’t have to still be together by then.’

‘That’s… good’, Oliver sighed. ‘Fuck, that’s good.’

Felicity had to agree.

₪

The newly formed four couples seemed excited. Felicity felt sick to her stomach, because of course they left her and Oliver for last.

‘Now’, Mark smiled at them, ‘I’m sure you’re both excited to meet your pair. But, you see, you two…’, he sighed, shaking his head in evident amusement. ‘You two were the hardest job I ever had.’

Felicity frowned, looking to Oliver. He was frowning at her as well.

‘Now, don’t despair’, Mark chuckled. ‘I still found someone for the both of you. And, honestly, the answer was staring me in the face all the time I was struggling with it. And it’s a good answer. I promise, this is probably the best well matched pair I ever found.’

Felicity didn’t like what she was hearing. He was talking as if…

‘Felicity and Oliver, I couldn’t find the perfect pair for either of you in this firm. I couldn’t find a person you didn’t meet before, that will make you happy in your relationship.’

Felicity gulped, as Mark went on, grinning.

‘I couldn’t find someone, because you two are a perfect match for each other.’

She blinked, turning to Oliver. He looked like he ate something sour.

‘Not happening’, Felicity said.

‘No’, Oliver said, taking a step back.

‘He hates me’, Felicity pointed out.

‘No?’, Oliver frowned.

‘Yes’, Felicity frowned right back.

‘I don’t hate you’, Oliver blinked, his voice rising. ‘You hate me!’

‘I don’t hate you!’, Felicity answered just as loudly. ‘I think we could get along if you pulled your head out of your behind!’

‘My head is not in my behind’, Oliver rolled his eyes. ‘You’re the one who keeps trying to outsmart me.’

‘Because you act like I’m a stupid bimbo who doesn’t deserve to be here!’

‘That’s not true’, Oliver growled, taking two steps towards her. ‘You’re brilliant and strong and I’m just trying to keep up with you, because I’m not worth of even being in your presence.’

‘That’s stupid!’, Felicity poked him in the chest. ‘You’re a lot smarter than anybody gives you credit for and you work your butt off trying to do the right thing for the company.’

Oliver blinked down at her, and she blinked up at him.

Felicity realized how close they were standing, and looking into his eyes, she saw all his anger melting away, in sync with hers. It was replaced with confusion. Understandably so.

‘I…‘, Oliver tried, but he just shook his head.

‘Okay?’, Felicity frowned.

He nodded.

They spent a couple of seconds just looking at each other. Felicity’s heart was beating a mile a minute in her chest, and it was a weird feeling, knowing that Oliver was the reason for it.

Mark chuckled, startling them enough that they put a few steps between them again.

‘The line between hate and love is a very thin thing, and I am certain the two of you will be expertly dancing over it, sooner rather than later.’

Felicity didn’t really have any answer to that.

‘We could try’, Oliver said, shocking the pants off of her.

‘Sure’, she found herself saying, smiling slightly at Oliver. ‘Sure.’

₪

They went on a date the next week, Friday night after work.

The filming crew was awkward to be around, but Oliver took her to Big Belly Burger. Felicity laughed, a lot, but she was also very grateful.

It was… awkward.

So awkward.

Neither of them knew how to handle themselves, how to handle the other person, how to act, what to talk about.

‘This is stupid’, Felicity said.

Oliver’s face fell. ‘I… can take you home.’

‘No!’, she said quicker than expected. ‘I just mean that we shouldn’t be this awkward. We’ve known each other for years.’

‘But’, Oliver frowned, ‘we spent these years thinking we hated each other.’

‘Right’, Felicity nodded. ‘So we shouldn’t try to figure out a relationship right now.’ She was blushing, but she pushed through. ‘We should try to get to know each other, for real.’

‘Okay’, Oliver said slowly. ‘We could try. Uh…’, he blinked. ‘Do you like your job?’

Felicity scrunched up her nose. She also flagged down the waitress and ordered them a couple of beers. Oliver raised an eyebrow.

‘How about we agree to not talk about work?’, Felicity said. ‘We know everything about each other’s work.’

Oliver tilted his head. ‘True.’

Felicity took a deep breath. ‘So, Oliver. Tell me about your sister. I heard that she’s managing your club, alongside Tommy. How is that going?’

Oliver’s eyes lit up with evident love, and he started talking. Fast. About Thea and Tommy, about how badass they were, about what a pain in his ass they were.

Then he asked her about what she does when she’s not working, and Felicity got into a long babbling rant about all the tech she liked to make. But it wasn’t a rant, it was a discussion, because Oliver listened to her, and asked her more about it and…

It was a nice date.

It was a very nice date.

And by the end of the night, when Oliver told her that he had a great time, after she gave him a long hug that wasn’t as awkward as she expected it… they agreed to a second date, a dinner and a movie in the middle of next week.

₪

Three months later, the filming crew comes back, with Mark in tow.

‘So, Felicity. You and Oliver. What happened after we left?’

Felicity smiled. ‘A lot happened. All good things.’

‘So you’re still together?’

‘Yes’, she grinned. ‘Which I’m sure you knew, because we make the covers of at least one tabloid every week, and our instagram pictures are, more often than not, in the top 5 most liked of the week.’

‘Right’, Mark grinned. ‘But are you happy?’

‘Surprisingly so’, Felicity said, and Mark rolled his eyes.

‘That’s exactly what Oliver said.’

Felicity giggled. ‘We didn’t talk beforehand of our answers, I swear. ’

‘Oh, I know’, Mark rolled his eyes. ‘But I don’t know if that’s infuriating or adorable.’


	45. Five steps up the salmon ladder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [@emmster_j](http://archiveofourown.org/users/emmster_j/pseuds/emmster_j) asked: _Could you write one about Felicity's infatuation with the salmon ladder please?_

Everybody knows that Felicity has a _Relationship_ with the salmon ladder. Well. With Oliver on the salmon ladder.

And everybody thinks it’s because Oliver looks hot while doing it. They’re right, of course, but it’s not just that. It’s more than that.

 

**_→One_ **

It’s about **physical strength**.

The fact that Oliver can do the salmon ladder to begin with. His arms, even if they’re not as big as Digg’s, they’re strong enough to hold Oliver’s entire weight.

Felicity knows how much power Oliver has in his hands. She knows he can snap a man’s neck without any strain, she knows he can carry her without breaking a sweat.

She knows he has enough power in his hands to shoot three arrows at the same time and she knows how the muscles in his arms feel under her fingertips. She’s had to sow them shut enough times.

And she knows that the strength in Oliver’s arms is always there, no matter how many bruises or cuts decorate them.

Which is exactly the case now. He’s had a pretty nasty knife slice his arm open yesterday, and today, he’s up on the salmon ladder, literally dripping blood.

‘You opened your stitches again’, Felicity sighed, not looking up.

There was silence, so Oliver stopped moving up and down the salmon ladder.

‘How can you tell?’, he asked, perfectly innocent, and Felicity did look up at that, glaring.

‘You’re dripping on my keyboard.’

He had the decency too look ashamed. He also came down and asked her, very nicely, to redo his stitches.

 

**_→Two_ **

It’s about **mental strength**.

Felicity lost number of the times Oliver went up on the ladder in complete distress, and came back calm.

Oliver was an angry person by definition, but he was the type of person to bottle everything in, or to punch things. He didn’t talk about his problems, not if he didn't really want to, and Felicity has been in this long enough to know not to push him.

So even if they really did have to talk about it, and even if they were supposed to be thinking about a plan, Felicity didn’t say anything when Oliver went up the ladder.

And, sure enough, ten minutes later, he came down with a thud and covered in sweat.

‘I have an idea’, he said, and Felicity smiled.

‘Of course you do.’

 

**_→Three_ **

It’s about **a vantage point**.

As an archer, Oliver favored high places. He saw better from high up, which explained his love for rooftops. And for the salmon ladder.

There was a moment in which Felicity realized that Oliver was sneaky.

She had a bad day at work, and he knew it, because he was there. Meeting after meeting, and because the entire firm was slaving away over a piece of software, and because the head of IT was an incompetent, grumpy old man, there was a lot of pressure on Felicity. Even though she was an EA (gee, thanks, Oliver), she was in charge of the project.

And it sucked.

So she was sulking. In the Foundry.

Felicity tried her best to hide her anger and annoyance, because it wasn’t Oliver’s fault, and because he was very nice and accommodating to her throughout the day.

‘Felicity?’, he called from on top of the salmon ladder. ‘You’ve been staring at the same webpage for ten minutes.’

‘No, I haven’t!’, she quickly denied, even if he was right. But he couldn’t have seen that. Could he?

Felicity looked up, narrowing her eyes.

Oliver was smiling at her, somewhat mischievously.

‘Oliver’, she said, slowly. ‘Are you spying on me?’

He went up a step. ‘I wouldn’t call it spying.’

‘Then what would you call it?’, there was venom in her voice, but he didn’t acknowledge it.

Oliver went up another step. ‘It’s more like investigating.’

Felicity sighed.

‘It’s a nice dress, though.’, Oliver smiled. ‘You should buy it.’

‘This is retail therapy’, Felicity sighed. ‘You’re encouraging retail therapy.’

Oliver came down from the ladder with a thud. He grinned at her.

‘Or I just really want to see your ass in that dress.’

He turned around and went to shower without another word, leaving a gaping, blushing Felicity behind.

 

**_→Four_ **

It’s about **anger management**.

The Foundry was a mess when Felicity got there. There were three tables turned upside down, there was a medical kit thrown all over the floor, the glass case that held his hood was shattered to pieces and Oliver was up on the salmon ladder.

Knowing him, he has been there for the past half hour.

But he came down when he noticed Felicity.

‘I’m alright now’, he said, and Felicity sighed.

‘You over reacted’, she had to say.

‘I did not.’, he didn’t even sound convinced.

‘Oliver’, Felicity leveled him with a look. ‘Thea’s boyfriend asked you for her hand in marriage, and you trashed the Foundry.’

‘She’s my baby sister!’, he almost yelled and Felicity threw her hands up.

‘Yes, and she loves him, and he loves her and he was incredibly nice to even ask you in the first place! Seriously’, Felicity sighed, ‘it was him and me that convinced Thea not to elope.’

Oliver growled. Then he blinked at her. Then he said a very heartfelt ‘thank you’. Then he went back up the salmon ladder.

 

**_→Five_ **

It’s about **sex**.

Because Felicity was aware, that Oliver figured out how much his body affected her, way waaaay before they got together.

But the first time he actually used this superpower, she had to take a step back to realize it.

They were fighting, for a reason Felicity can’t even dignify to think about anymore. Oliver was dealing with his frustration up on the salmon ladder, and Felicity was beating up her keyboard.

But she still sneaked glances up at him.

At the way the muscles in his arms strained. At the way his abs twitched with every move he made. At the sweat that made his chest glisten.

When he came down, he didn’t stop until he was right beside Felicity, his big form towering over hers.

It would have been menacing, if Felicity were able to look away from his delicious, sweaty chest.

‘I think we should work on your strength’, he said, shocking Felicity completely.

‘Especially on your upper body strength’, Oliver went on, making her look up at him.

He was grinning.

‘Because makeup sex on the ladder would be very entertaining.’

Really, Felicity couldn’t be blamed, that she locked down the Foundry and took off Oliver’s pants right then and there.


	46. The Break

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nickie wanted _something about Felicity going to the suicide squad or the loa, to save sara or to have a break on Oliver... And she's really doing well in the two teams... _  
> And there were quite a couple of people who wanted more Deadshot.__
> 
> __**Spoilers. Ish. For... What's going to happen later in the season in Flash. Ish. I'm so you know which Earth 2 main characters we'll be seeing. So. It's not that big of a spoiler.** _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This... got away from me. I kind of love it.

It isn’t the first time they have this conversation. They’ve been together for three years, and they’ve known each other for six.

And it always comes back to this, Oliver pulling away because he puts her in danger.

Usually, Felicity would fight him. She’d refuse to break up and convince him.

This time, thought… She didn’t.

‘Fine’, she said. ‘If you’re so sure that this is best, I’ll take my leave. We’ll both be miserable, Oliver. Do you realize that?’

‘You’ll be safe’, he said strongly, and Felicity knew she couldn’t live without him.

And she knew he couldn’t live without her either.

He’d come back, she was sure of it.

But maybe he needed this. He needed to really miss her, in order to realize how much he needed her.

It was cruel, but she needed to do this.

So she left.

Took some time off work, packed a bag, made one last trip to the Foundry to make sure the network was secured. She got into her car and drove.

It was very reminiscent of her and Oliver’s road trip. They were so happy then, and now they were both miserable, and Felicity was crying, alone in her car.

So she drove.

For a couple of days.

At first, she had no destination in mind. But one day, she figured out where she was going.

She was insane, probably. Stupid, clearly. But that didn’t stop her.

X

40 miles to the nearest town. At the edge of a forest. A big house, but old. Untaken care of. A beat up truck in the front. A pile of wood to the side. A red door with chipped paint.

She knocked.

Caitlin opened the door, and Felicity took a step back. It took her a moment to remember that this wasn’t Caitlin. This was Earth’s 2 Caitlin Snow. Codename: Killer Frost.

‘Hi’, Felicity breathed out. ‘It Floyd Lawton here?’

She got a gun pointed at her forehead. Felicity flinched, but didn’t back down.

‘Could you please get Floyd Lawton before you kill me?'

Not-Caitlin narrowed her eyes at her, but she did shout for Lawton.

He didn’t recognize her at first, but after a couple of blinks, his jaw dropped.

‘What are you doing here?’, he all but screeched. ‘How are you even here?’

Felicity tilted her head, mockingly, in sync with Not-Caitlin lowering her gun.

‘I kept track of you ever since you faked your death. And I made sure Argus didn’t do the same.’ She blinked. ‘Nobody knows but me, I promise.’

Lawton gulped. ‘Why are you here?’

‘I need a break’, Felicity breathed out.

‘Last time I checked, you were happily fucking the Arrow and running a company.’ It wasn’t said maliciously, so Felicity answered in the same manner.

‘And the Arrow broke up with me, again, to keep me safe, and this time, I was too tired to convince him otherwise.’

Lawton sighed. ‘Lady, what the fuck do I have to do with your relationship drama?’

‘Nothing’, Felicity grinned. ‘That’s why you’re so appealing right now.’

‘You’re not making any sense’, Not-Caitlin pointed out, and Felicity sighed.

‘I need a place to lay low.’, she shrugged at Lawton.

‘You’re crazy’, he said.

‘Yeah.’

‘Batshit insane.’

‘Hell yeah. Can I stay?’

Lawton shared a look with Not-Caitlin, and then Not-Ronnie came out from somewhere in the house.

‘Uuuuh!’, he exclaimed, excitedly. ‘Does Lawton get a girlfriend? The third-wheel business is getting old.’

Felicity spluttered. ‘No’.

‘Okay’, Lawton said. ‘Okay.’

Not-Caitlin sighed. ‘I’ll help you set up a room.’

X

Felicity spent the day in a bedroom on the second floor, dusting everything, washing the floor and moving furniture around. It wasn’t much, just a bed, a set of drawers, a wardrobe and a desk. But it was more than she needed.

Not-Caitlin helped. Wordlessly.

All she said, when they were just about done, was ‘You can call me Frost, everybody else does.’

‘Thank god’, Felicity breathed out. ‘Cause I know the other Caitlin and this is really weird.’

Frost stopped in her tracks, and stared at her.

‘So you know what I can do?’, she paired that with a ball of ice sparking in the palm of her hand.

Felicity nodded.

‘And you didn’t run away screaming’, Frost said, and she sounded confused.

‘Sorry, you’re not the worst metahuman I’ve seen. No offence. ’

‘Okay’, Frost said, ‘We can work with that.’

X

They had dinner in the kitchen, but Felicity didn’t think this was a normal occurrence.

Dinner was a compliment, actually, because all they had was beer and chicken nuggets. Felicity was planning a grocery list in her head when she realized that everybody was very silent.

And sure enough, they were staring at her.

‘I still don’t know who you are’, Not-Ronnie said.

‘Firestorm is fine’, Frost said, and Felicity nodded.

‘I’m Felicity Smoak’, she said, looking to Firestorm. ‘I’m CEO of Palmer Tech, I’m the Arrow’s ...’,she sighed. ‘I was the Arrow’s girlfriend and hacker. I’m also very good friends with The Flash? And Speedy. And The Spartan. And The Black Cannary. And Vibe. And The White Cannary and The Atom and Batman hates the Arrow, but we work together, sometimes, and … that’s about it, I think.’

‘Wow’, Firestorm said. ‘So you know the other me.’

She shook her head. ‘I didn’t meet him. I know the other Caitlin, though.’

‘Okay, so’, he narrowed his eyes. ‘Why are you here?’

‘Long story short’, Felicity sighed, ‘my boyfriend’s an idiot and I’m teaching him a lesson.’

‘And what lesson is that?’, Frost asked.

‘That we can’t live without each other.’

To Felicity’s surprise, Frost laughed at that. ‘I approve of this. You’re welcome to stay for as long as you’d like.’

Felicity looked to Lawton.

‘They’re going to come after you.’

‘They won’t’, Felicity assured him quickly. ‘Oliver will try to track me, but I made sure he won’t be able to. And Digg’ll calm him down.’

‘And then, John will come after you’, Lawton pointed out.

‘Nope’, Felicity shook her head. ‘He’ll call, check in on me, but he’ll respect my wish.’

Lawton sighed. ‘It’s never that easy, when you three are concerned.’

Felicity smirked.

‘You gotta pull your weight’, Lawton narrowed his eyes at him.

‘Sure’, Felicity shrugged. ‘I’m in charge of lunch and dinner from now on, and if you can find a vacuum cleaner, I’ll get right at it.’

‘We got a maid!’, Firestorm laughed, and Felicity promptly threw a chicken nugget at his head.

There was silence.

‘I am not your maid. I will not pick up after you, but I will make this place a bit more livable, because I can feel the germs crawling on me right now.’

‘You threw a chicken nugget at me’, Firestorm said, seemingly in awe.

‘Yes, and you didn’t burn me to the ground, so you know you deserved it.’

‘I like you’, Frost said, grinning at her. ‘We’re going to have so much fun.’

‘I regret it already’, Lawton sighed.

Felicity just laughed.

X

Felicity woke up early the next morning, and took a trip to the closest town, setting her credit card on fire.

She bought food, a lot of it, some cooking supplies and a lot of cleaning supplies. She also got some blankets, because the house’s heating was dodgy, and she bought herself some comfy clothes, hoodies and leggings, because in her haste, she didn’t pack any.

Felicity also bought alcohol. It might come to bite her in the ass later on, but now they not only had beer, but vodka, whisky and gin as well. And coffee. A lot of coffee.

The guys helped her carry everything inside, and once again, told Felicity she was crazy. She didn’t argue.

X

She got into a routine, over the next two weeks.

Felicity woke up in the morning, had a quick breakfast and drank a cup of coffee as she checked her e-mails and the news.

Then, she’d clean for a while. Dust rooms, wash floors, clean carpets. Felicity didn’t mind it. She was going to be living here, she liked to be able to breathe. And move around. She liked her space to be clean, no matter how much Firestorm kept teasing her.

She took extra care of the big bookcase in the living room. It was packed with books, and it occurred to Felicity, that she didn’t ask whose house this was. She decided she didn’t care.

It was weird when she asked Lawton to do his room. He let her, but thankfully, he picked up all the clothes that were on the floor by himself.

When she got to Frost and Firestorm’s room, there wasn’t much to do. Still, Frost helped her clean the carpet and wash the drapes.

After a few hours of cleaning, Felicity would start making lunch. It usually wasn’t anything fancy, it was something that could be done quickly.

They didn’t eat together.

After that, Felicity would nap. Or she’d just stay in her room, reading or watching a movie, generally relaxing.

For dinner, she’d grill something outside every other day, after Lawton cleaned the grill for her. Sometimes, Frost would help her chop vegetables. Other times, Lawton would sit with her. Silently.

Felicity always showered before bed, and she’d fall asleep sooner than she was used to.

X

She didn’t know what the other people did all day.

The house was silent, most of the time, so she thought they weren’t even inside.

She got her answer three weeks in.

Felicity woke up to the feeling of someone watching. And sure enough, Frost was perched on the end of the bed, legs crossed and blonde hair up in a pony tail, flicking through the book Felicity was reading.

‘We’re going on a picnic today’, Frost said.

Felicity blinked.

‘Out in the woods. I’ve already packed everything, we leave in half an hour.’

‘Okay’, was all Felicity managed to say.

Frost got up and headed for the door. ‘Wear something comfortable’, she smirked before leaving.

Felicity got up and started getting ready.

They walked for about a mile through the woods, and Felicity was very glad she invested in hoodies and a pair of sturdy boots.

They stopped in a clearing, and Felicity took her time, put a blanket on the ground, took out her book and a bottle of water.

When she was comfortably sitting down, she looked to see what the others were doing.

Firestorm and Lawton were stretching, and then, they started sparring. Frost was shooting knives into a tree.

‘Is this what you do all day?’, she found herself saying.

They all turned to look at her.

‘What did you think we were doing?’, Lawton asked, slowly.

‘I didn’t.’, she admitted.

‘Wanna give it a shot?’, Frost waved a knife at her.

Felicity shook her head. ‘I’m not good with knives.’

Frost regarded her. ‘How about some self defense?’

‘That I can do’, Felicity found herself saying, and moved to get up.

X

Ten minutes later, Frost was whining, massaging her stomach, and the guys were laughing.

‘I’m so sorry’, Felicity said, highly distressed. ‘I didn’t mean to, I didn’t realize how much force I was putting in the punch.’

‘It’s fine’, Frost wheezed out, straightening. ‘But I think we can move up to offence.’

‘Focus on her legs’, Lawton said. ‘She’s fast, and they’re bound to have some muscles in them.’

Felicity frowned.

‘Considering the amount of heels you wear’, Lawton smirked at her.

Still, she wasn’t opposed to it.

‘You want to train me?’, Felicity asked Frost, and she nodded.

‘Might be fun. That boyfriend of yours might enjoy it if he ever gets his head out of his ass.’

Felicity’s eyes widened at that. And she pictured Oliver's face, when he’d see her fight, not just defend herself.

‘Yes, please’, she said, and Frost laughed.

X

When they got back to the house, the sun was starting to set.

Lawton put a hand on her shoulder. ‘How about I fix us dinner tonight? I’ll grill some burgers.’

‘Sure’, she shrugged, not really thinking about it.

She showered, taking the time to massage her sore muscles, and then she was called down for dinner.

Except for that first night, this was the first time they all ate together, and it was different.

For one, because they were talking.

Firestorm and Lawton were talking about getting more wood for fires, and Frost said she’d like to come with Felicity next time she went shopping, apparently she needed new clothes.

And then Frost and Firestorm argued a bit about getting new sheets for their bed, and it was oddly adorable.

And then Lawton asked her if there’s anything else she needed in the house, that he could get or fix.

Felicity felt a bit overwhelmed.

‘So how’s the other me like?’, Frost asked her, and Felicity froze.

‘Don’t worry, I know we’re different’, Frost went on. ‘She’s good, I’m bad, blabla. But I’m curious; I didn’t get to talk to her a lot.’

‘That’s because you tried to kill her’, Felicity said before she could stop herself.

‘Yeah, well’, she shrugged. ‘That Cisco guy stopped me.’

Felicity frowned. ‘You didn’t have a Cisco on Earth 2?’

‘We haven’t met’, Frost said. ‘So come on. Just how good is she?’

There was a smirk on Frost’s lips, and Firestorm looked equally curious as she was, so Felicity didn’t censure herself.

‘Caitlin is brilliant. She’s kind and she’s very smart. She’s a doctor through and through, her first instinct is always to help.’

‘I’ve seen that’, Frost nodded.

Felicity didn’t really know the details of what really happened in Central City, but she didn’t think it was a good idea to ask now.

‘She cares a lot’, Felicity went on. ‘About everyone, yes, but she’d do anything for the people she really cares about.’

‘Barry’, Firestorm said. ‘And Cisco.’

‘And me’, Felicity couldn’t help but grin. ‘The Arrow, too.’

‘You know, Blondie’, Lawton said, ‘We all know that Oliver’s the Arrow, you can cut the crap.’

Felicity sighed. ‘Don’t call me that, will you? It pisses me off.’

The asshole just grinned.

‘What about me?’, Firestorm said.  ‘I mean, what happened to me and Caitlin here?’

Felicity felt bad, talking about it. But she decided she wouldn’t go into details, nothing too personal.

‘They met at Star Labs, working on the particle accelerator. They got engaged, and Ronnie sacrificed himself when it exploded.’

‘But he came back, as Firestorm’, Lawton said.

Felicity nodded. ‘It wasn’t just him, because-‘

‘He merged with Doctor Stein’, Frost said.

‘Yeah. It was complicated for a while, but they both came back eventually. Then they left to figure it out. Then they came back. Caitlin and Ronnie got married, quickly. Then… a whole bunch of other stuff happened in a very short period of time, and there was a wormhole opened over Central City, and Ronnie sacrificed himself to close it.’

‘Fucked up’, Lawton summed it up, and Felicity had to snort at it.

‘So he was still a sacrificing bastard’, Frost said, looking at Firestorm. ‘The difference is that you’d only do that for me.’

Firestorm nodded.

‘And I guess’, Frost said, ‘this Caitlin’s not as dark as I am.’

‘Oh, I’m sure she is’, Felicity frowned. ‘I mean, hurt Barry or Cisco and face her wrath, but…’

‘But she’s dark when it comes to the people she cares about getting hurt’, Frost smiled, ‘not with everyone she doesn’t like.’

‘I don’t think you’re that different, at your core’, Felicity reasoned. ‘I mean, I don’t know you very well, but I think that you’ve become what you are because of… experiences you’ve gone through. And my Caitlin and Ronnie went thought other experiences, so of course they ended up differently.’

‘I’m still curious about Cisco.’, Frost frowned.

‘Me too’, Firestorm admitted. ‘I mean, about Cisco on Earth 2.’

‘I’m sure he’s just as funny as our Cisco is’, Felicity couldn’t help but smile.

‘He seemed like a big nerd’, Firestorm said.

‘But a strong man’, Frost said. ‘He was ready to jump in front of my ice ray to save Caitlin.’

‘That’s sounds like Cisco ’, Felicity nodded. ‘You’ve never even met him on your Earth?’

‘What’s his real name?’, Frost frowned.

‘Francisco Ramon.’

Both Frost’s and Firestorm faces fell, instantly.

‘What?’, it was Lawton that asked.

‘We’ve met him’, Firestorm said. ‘We were friends in high school. He got mugged and killed. The man who did it was the first one we killed. Years before getting out powers.’

‘Man’, Lawton whined, ‘this got way too serious.’

Frost snorted at that.

‘Right’, she turned to Felicity. ‘So, Felicity, have you heard from your boyfriend yet?’

She glared. She also got up and brought a bottle of vodka and four glasses.

X

She keeps training. Mostly with Frost, but the guys sometimes help out.

Lawton teaches her how to direct more power into her kicks, and Firestorm teaches her some tricky moves that involve a lot of gymnastics.

Three months in, she picks up the knives Frost uses to train. She gets the hang of throwing them in about a week.

Lawton brings out the guns the next week, and teaches her how to properly use one, before making up mock targets for her to shoot at.

They start having dinner together.

X

Three months and a half into her stay, there’s a metaphorical apocalypse with Palmer Tech.

Felicity manages to fix it without driving back to Starling, but it takes a couple of very stressful long days and nights, and by the end of it, she can’t remember the last time she ate or showered, and her laptop’s monitor looks fuzzy.

Frost takes her out swimming.

It’s just the two of them, and they drive to town, where there’s a spa. They spend a couple of hours just doing laps in the pool, they don’t talk, not really, but it helps Felicity wind down.

She calls Digg that night.

They don’t talk for long, but John assures her that Team Arrow’s doing well, that she’s missed, and that Oliver’s devastated.

Good, Felicity thinks. She hates that she could have avoided it, avoided this heartbreak, but she stands by her decision. And John gets that, and he promises Felicity, that he’s taking care as Oliver, as much as he’s allowed.

She hopes it won’t take long for Oliver to… come back to her.

X

‘How’s John doing?’, Lawton asked the next day, as they were taking a break from training and eating lunch in the woods.

Felicity hesitated only for half a second, before taking out her phone and opening the "Sara" folder.

It didn't take long for Lawton to smile.

‘If you look at it from far away’, Felicity told him, ‘you’re kind of the reason they’re happy.’

Lawton frowned, profoundly.

‘After you died, Lyla resigned. Because you died, Lyla left Argus. She got a job as a security consultant, works 9 to 5, has plenty of time to raise baby Sara.’

‘But John still goes out every night.’, Lawton pointed out.

‘Yes’, Felicity shrugged, ‘but they agreed to it. And, I mean’, she pulled a face, ‘men are more clingy. Digg would never be able to fully stop fighting, not like Lyla did.’

‘I feel like there’s a rude insult in there’, Firestorm said.

‘Yes there is, honey’, Frost lovingly and mockingly patted his head, and Felicity had to laugh at that.

When she turned back to look at Lawton, she found him frowning.

‘How did you do it? Stop fighting?’

‘I didn’t’, he answered quickly. ‘I just limit my fighting to them, now.’

Felicity hummed. ‘But you’d want to get back to it. Fighting.’

‘Would if I could, hon’, Lawton smirked. Felicity narrowed her eyes at the nickname, he started using it in the last days.

‘But I have to not exist.’

‘That’s why we’re here’, Frost pointed out.

‘Not you, though’, Firestorm pointed a finger at her. ‘You’re just running.’

‘I’m not’, Felicity shook her head. ‘Oliver’s the one that’s running, I just let him.’

‘You’re weird’, Firestorm said, and Felicity snorted.

‘You don’t know the half of it. You didn’t even witness the miracle that is me hacking.’

He stared at her. So did Frost.

Lawton, however, chuckled.

‘I have heard stories about it. Amanda hates you.’

She grinned at that, feeling pretty good about it.

X

The first time Felicity has to get stitched up, it’s Lawton that does it.

She was knife fighting with Frost, and she got a slash in, straight on Felicity’s hipbone.

It should be awkward, Lawton being this close to her shirtless self, but it’s not. He’s very gentle, and there’s a concerned frown between his brow, and it hits Felicity, how much he’s helped.

She would have been a mess. She would have cried and sobbed and she would have been desperate without Oliver.

But being here, it helped her immensely.

‘All done, hon’, he said, taping the last bit of gauze to her skin.

Felicity hugged him. Lawton was surprised, clearly, he yelped out loud and almost fell off his chair, but he did put a hand around her waist, chuckling in her ear.

‘What are you doing, Felicity?’

It’s the first time he called her by name.

‘Thank you’, is all she said, and it took a while, but Lawton sighed, and wrapped both of his hands around her, holding her tightly, but still careful about her injury.

And that was that.

They all got drunk that night, and watchrf The Hunger Games on Felicity’s laptop. The commentary was hilarious.

X

Barry shows up the next day. He stared, at Frost and Firestorm, mostly.

‘What the hell?’, he wheezed out, and Frost snorted at that.

‘Oh, look!’, she mockingly clapped her hands, turning to Felicity. ‘It’s the wrong guy.’

‘What are you doing here, Barry?’, Felicity asked, doing her best not to laugh at his face.

‘I… need you to hack something’, he said, slowly.

Felicity got her laptop and sat down on the couch. Barry didn’t.

He just stared, at where Firestorm and Lawton set up a game of Mario Cart, at where Frost sat down on the couch next to Felicity, their sides pressed together.

‘Barry?’, Felicity yelled. ‘What do you need?’

His head snapped to hers. ‘The Mayor of Central City is having a party. I need our names on the guest list.’

Felicity glared.

‘Cisco could have done that’, she said, slowly.

Barry shook his head.

‘You could have called’, she pointed out.

Barry opened his mouth, but instead of saying anything, he blushed.

‘But’, she sighed, ‘you wanted to check up on me.’

‘Can you blame me?’, he waved his hands desperately towards the villains in the room. ‘You’re bleeding.’

‘God damn it’, Lawton groaned, getting up from the chair and not pausing in lifting up her shirt.

‘I’m gonna need to redo some stitches’, he said. ‘And you are going to sleep surrounded by pillows.’

‘Thank you’, Felicity said, brightly.

She powered up her laptop and quickly hacked the mayor’s data base, adding the names needed to the invite list.

‘Jay too’, Barry said, and Felicity paused.

‘He’s Caitlin’s date’, he explained, pointedly not looking at Frost.

‘Seriously?’, Frost wheezed out and Barry nodded.

Frost gagged, audibly, and Firestorm looked like he swallowed a lemon.

‘I don’t like this you very much’, he told his girlfriend, and Felicity cracked up.

‘Are you okay?’, Barry asked, somewhat desperately.

Felicity smiled at him.

‘I am, really, Barry, I promise I’m fine.’

‘You could come home.’, he said. ‘You should come home.’

‘Yes’, Felicity nodded. ‘But I’m not going to do that until Oliver wants me there.’

‘He does want you there’, Barry was quick to say, but Felicity shook her head.

‘It’s a bit more complicated than that, and you know it.’

Barry sighed.

‘Can I kill him?’, he asked, very innocently. ‘I feel like I should kill him.’

Felicity laughed, and got up and hugged Barry. He didn’t hesitate in hugging her back.

‘Go home, Flash’, she smiled at him. ‘Everything is a-ok here.’

X

Oliver doesn’t call. He just shows up two days later and kisses her desperately, completely ignoring Lawton’s groans and Firestorm’s catcalls.

Later, when she’s packing up, Frost knocks on her door.

‘I’ve talked to the guys, and if you or Team Flash ever need some backup, you know where to find us.’

Felicity’s jaw drops.

Frost shrugs, gives her a quick hug, and urges her to hurry up, because she really didn’t want the living room to be filled with arrows.

X

Oliver proposes two months later. They get married six months after.

It’s a quick ceremony at Town Hall, and the party is a very closed circle, all the superheroes and the people who know about the superheroes.

Felicity didn’t really expect them to show up when she sent the invitation, but they did.

Lawton hugged her, and shook Oliver’s hand, then went straight to Digg and Lyla, immediately reaching for Sara.

Frost and Firestorm both kissed her cheek, at the same time, then they congratulated Oliver, calling him Mr. Smoak.

Caitlin had a bit of a meltdown over seeing them, but Cisco was there to calm her down, and sure enough, the four of them were sitting at the same table, comparing lives.

X

Two months later, Felicity saves Oliver’s life by knocking a knife into a guy’s leg.

Oliver gapes.

Then, before she can get Oliver out of the chains that were holding him down, another man attacks her.

Felicity gets him down and unconscious fairly quickly.

Oliver gapes.

‘How?’, he wheezes out.

Felicity grins. ‘Did you really think I just sat on my ass when I was in the woods with Team Villain? ‘

‘Okay’, Oliver breathes out. ‘We’re going to… work on that.’

‘Great’, she pipes up.

‘Preferably naked’, Oliver ads, and Felicity waits until they’re back home to text Frost about it.


	47. The Flash's bachelor party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [@missmeagan666](http://archiveofourown.org/users/missmeagan666/pseuds/missmeagan666) asked: Might I ask though, you teased us with what other Felicity couldn't tell Felicity. I would love to hear bout: ‘I can’t tell you when Oliver and I got married’, Other Felicity started. ‘Or when our children were born. Or who Barry married.’ She snorted before going on. ‘Or why that bachelor party turned into a superhero disaster. I can’t tell you how Oliver threatens Thea’s future husband, and I can’t tell you all that you’re going to go through.’
> 
> Extract from [the Other Felicity](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4884940/chapters/13059145)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> beware of accidental cold flash. heh.

Oliver knew Barry and Iris’ wedding was fast approaching, but the bachelor party took him by surprise.

He didn’t want to go, he wasn’t the type to party anymore, but Felicity leveled him with a look.

‘Oliver, they’re your friends. And it’s the Arrow, the Flash, Vibe, and a few other pretty competent super heroes going out. What could possibly go wrong?’

She’d end up regretting those words.

Ϟ

It started off easy, with dinner at a nice burger joint.

Barry’s bachelor party consisted of Oliver, Roy, Digg, Cisco, Joe, Doctor Wells and Wally.

Dinner was nice, with easy conversations and beers floating around, and they ended up dragging it for a couple of hours. And a snack.

Barry gave them all gifts, which was apparently tradition, so at the wedding they will all be wearing bright red buttons. Oliver wasn’t even mad about it, they matched Felicity’s dress.

After dinner, Joe and Wells took their leave, blaming old age and saying things like “you kids have some fun”.

That’s when things started getting tricky.

Ϟ

The first bar they went to was the one Team Flash usually hung out at. So, of course, they knew they were coming.

Barry acquired a hideous crown that said “soon to be married” , and they got a booth and three bottles of tequila. And a bottle of special Caitlin alcohol that could get Barry drunk.

Oliver beat Cisco at darts, no matter how much tequila he drank.

The fact that he accepted the challenge to begin with, that should have made Oliver realize something was wrong.

Ϟ

They went to a club next.

This time, they all drank vodka, and cushioned it with beers.

‘So’, Wally said, sliding into the seat next to him. They were the only ones not dancing.

‘How’d you end up a superhero?’

‘It’s a long story’, Oliver sighed.

‘I’ve got time’, Wally grinned, handing him another glass of vodka.

The kid was pretty nice, Oliver thought. He was very easy going and his smile was infectious.

So Oliver told him. A lot. The long story.

It should have made Oliver realize something was wrong.

Ϟ

They went to Big Belly Burger next, for another snack.

Well, everybody else had a snack, Barry had 5 burgers.

Ϟ

They went to another bar next, where they sat around a table and told embarrassing stories involving women.

Oliver told the story about how the first time he slept with Felicity, how they were in Nanda Parbat, and Oliver was about to become Ra’s al Ghul.

He never spoke about that, not even to Digg. The fact that he told everyone should have made Oliver realize something was wrong.

Ϟ

‘Does anyone wanna race?’, Barry grinned when they were out in the street.

‘You’re on!’, Oliver grinned, without thinking.

Really, he didn’t think.

He didn’t even realize that Barry had superspeed until Barry started running.

That should have made Oliver realize that he was drunk.

Ϟ

They never made it to the next bar.

Captain Cold stopped them.

Oliver reached for his bow and arrows, before remembering he didn’t have them.

‘Fuck’, he cursed.

‘What are you doing?’, Barry asked, getting right up in Captain’s Cold face.

Cold put his hands on Barry’s shoulder, making him stop swaying.

‘Heard congratulations are in order’, Cold told Barry. ‘I thought I should deliver them in person.’

Barry didn’t say anything for a long while.

‘No’, he finally said, yelling in Cold’s face. ‘This is about that one time we made out.’

Oliver fell. He didn’t manage to get up.

‘Barry’, Cold snorted. ‘I thought you said that didn’t happen.’

‘It didn’t’, Barry shook his head. It made Oliver’s head hurt.

‘It did, but I didn’t care’, Barry went on. ‘It didn’t happen.’

Oliver fell asleep.

Ϟ

When he woke up, the ground was hot. And cold.

On his right side, the ground was frozen. On his left side, it was very, very hot.

Everybody else was laughing, while Barry and Cold were fighting.

When did Barry get into his suit?

Oliver got up quickly, too quickly, considering he threw up. But he got up from that too, and tried to separate Barry and Cold.

Barry hit him in the eye. It hurt pretty badly.

Oliver hit him back, because nobody hits Oliver without Oliver hitting them back.

And then Cold hit Oliver. In the same eye. It hurt even worse.

So Oliver hit Cold back. Because nobody hits Oliver without Oliver hitting them back.

He lost count of who hit who by that point. But there seem to be more than three people fighting. He thinks he hit a black guy at some point, and neither Barry nor Cold were black.

It was all very confusing.

Oliver fell asleep.

Ϟ

He woke up on the ground of a prison cell, with Barry half sprawled over him and Roy’s leg dangerously close to his crotch.

Upon further inspection, they were all in the prison cell, Digg’s snores filling it. And on the other side of the bars, Joe was glaring down at them.

‘Central City will forever remember Barry’s bachelor party at the night The Flash got so drunk he ended up hanging Captain Cold up on a flag post. By his underpants.’

Oliver was still too drunk to fully comprehend that.

Ϟ

Felicity showed him the video.

It was hilarious, even if Oliver would never admit it out loud.

And yes, for as long as they lived, Barry’s bachelor party will remain the stuff of legends.


	48. Running the wrong way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [@hkaur2](http://archiveofourown.org/users/hkaur2/pseuds/hkaur2%20%20) asked: _This one is during the undertaking. I wanted angst. Like when Oliver without so much a second thought runs to Laurel when the Glades fall. But, Felicity is in the area of where the Glades get destroyed, and she gets hurt, just like Laurel was trapped underneath. So let's say that the machine that was turned off was the one that was to destroy the DA's office, but Oliver ran there anyways. So when the other machine went off, Felicity was still at the Foundry. She gets hurt, and is unconscious until somebody comes back for her in all the rubble. And Dig tells him that he ways chooses Laurel. Just something angsty._

‘Lance did it’, Oliver hears Felicity say in his ear, and he breathes a sigh of relief. Laurel is safe.

‘It’s over’, he says, but Merlyn starts talking.

‘If I’ve learned anything as a successful businessman, it’s redundancy.’

It takes a beat, but Oliver figures it out.

‘Felicity, there’s another device. There’s two of them.’

Just as he finishes saying the words, he hears explosions in the background. And judging by what he sees, they’re targeting the Glades.

He calls Felicity’s name a lot of times, and finally, she does answer.

‘I’m okay’, her voice cracks, in a way it didn’t before.

‘Are you sure?’, Oliver tries.

‘I’m going to go home now. You should do the same, Oliver.’

He hears the familiar click that indicates that she turned off the link, a clear dismissal.

Oliver tries to get himself together. First, he gets Digg to the hospital. Then he goes home, patches himself up quickly, changes out of his suit and picks up his bike.

He finds Laurel at CNRI, Tommy with her. WITH her.

Oliver saw it coming, of course he did, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t hurt. Still. The love of his life and his best friend were together and in love. He wasn’t going to bring down their happiness with his resent.

So, instead, he helped them out. There wasn’t a lot of damage to the CNRI building, but it was a mess inside. A couple of desks were turned over and papers were everywhere. So Oliver helped Laurel and Tommy and the rest of the people there clean up.

When Diggle called, he stepped away, for a bit of privacy.

‘How are you?’

‘Fine’, Diggle grunted. ‘They’re keeping me over night, but I’ll be fine. Felicity’s not answering her phone.’

‘She said she was going home’, Oliver frowned.

‘And you believed her?’, Digg said, anger evident. ‘The Foundry is her pride and joy, and the Glades were ground zero. Do you really think she would have gone home when the Foundry was in pieces?’

Oliver blanched, suddenly realizing that Digg was right.

Felicity was probably still in the Foundry. Was she hurt? She would have said so, but she probably wasn’t fine. Nobody was fine, not after what happened.

Oliver’s been an idiot.

‘Go get her now!’, Digg said with an amount of authority Oliver has never heard from him before. He hung up before Oliver got to respond.

He tried to call her, but as Digg said, Felicity wasn’t answering.

‘What’s wrong?’, Tommy came by his side. ‘You’ve gone very pale.’

‘Felicity’, his voice broke. ‘Was at the club. She said she was okay, but she’s not answering her phone.’

‘I’ll go with you’, Tommy said quickly.

‘No, that’s okay, I’ll go.’

But Tommy was having none of it. He quickly told Laurel a safe version of what was happening, and they took Tommy’s car, speeding as fast as the streets allowed it.

They couldn’t get to Verdant, there was too much damage to the streets, so they made the last mile on foot, all but running.

Going down to the Foundry was easy enough, but as they called her name, Felicity didn’t answer.

The Foundry was a mess, but the walls were still standing. Everything else wasn’t. Everything else was ruined.

When Oliver saw Felicity, his heart stopped.

She was on the ground, face down, surrounded by medical supplies. As he got closer, Oliver saw that there was a deep gash on her thigh, that was still bleeding. She was covered in dust, there were small cuts on her face and body and she wasn’t answering his calls.

Oliver all but collapsed next to her. Felicity had a pulse, but it was faint.

‘Come on’, Tommy said, roughly digging his fingers into Oliver’s shoulder. ‘We have to get her to a hospital.’

It was a blur after that, and Oliver only remembers that he carried Felicity all the way to the car, and that he spent the ride holding onto her, pushing his fingers to her pulse and counting her heart beats.

Oliver collapsed in a chair once at the hospital, as Felicity was wheeled away by doctors. Tommy went to look for Digg, and Oliver just wanted everything to stop.

He has been a fool. Felicity and John, they were important. They were the most important people for Oliver’s mission, and he couldn’t keep them safe. How could he possibly ask them to help him again, when he got them hurt? So hurt.

He didn’t deserve them.

Oliver was startled when someone punched his face.

It was Digg, angry as hell, being held back by Tommy.

‘Where were you?’, Digg yelled. ‘Were the fuck were you?’

‘She said she was going home’, Oliver tried.

‘Where were you?’

Oliver sighed. ‘I went to check up on Laurel. And Tommy.’

All the anger drained out of Digg.

‘Of course’, he said, completely disgusted. ‘It’s always Laurel, the almighty Laurel. Fuck everyone else, you’ll always going to choose Laurel.’

‘Not anymore’, Oliver found himself saying.

‘Because someone finally got hurt because of it?’

Oliver couldn’t look at John anymore.

‘No, because Laurel is in love with me.’, Tommy said emotionless. ‘And because Oliver is going to take this as a wake up call.’

Digg snorted. ‘Call me when you wake up, then. I’m going back to bed.’

He took two steps, but then he stopped.

‘If Felicity won’t heal’, he said in a low voice, ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do to you.’

‘I do’, Oliver said, and he did. Digg would hurt Oliver with all he had, and rightfully so. Oliver would hurt himself just as much.

It was a long wait, but a nurse finally came, assuring them that Felicity will be alright, but that she was asking for them.

She was smiling, but it broke Oliver’s heart. Because she was pale, surrounded by machines and tubes.

‘I’m so sorry’, was the first thing he said.

‘No no no’, Felicity shook her head. ‘You don’t get to be sorry, I was the stupid one who thought she could stitch herself up.’

‘You shouldn’t have been there in the first place.’

‘No no no, you can’t say that either.’, Felicity pouted. ‘It was my choice.’

Oliver bit on his lower lip.

‘Hey’, she said softly. ‘I’m okay. I’ll be okay. And I… We might have not stopped the second device today, but we stopped the first. We saved lives.’

‘A lot of people still died’, Oliver couldn’t help but say.

‘Yeah, but not as much as he wanted.’

She looked to Tommy then. ‘Are you okay?’

Tommy chuckled. ‘You were unconscious and bleeding a couple of hours ago, and you’re asking _me_ if I’m okay?’

‘He was still your father’, Felicity said in a hushed voice.

‘He stopped being a father a long time ago.’, Tommy sighed. ‘You’ll be okay, yeah?’

Felicity grinned. ‘Yup. The doctors said I just have to sleep here because I’m going to be very drugged.’

‘Good’, Tommy grinned right back. ‘I need you to get better, because you and me, we’re the best chances Oliver has to becoming a proper superhero.’

‘Tommy-‘, Oliver tried, but he wasn’t allowed to speak.

‘You fucked up lately, there’s no doubt about it’, Tommy said. ‘And that’s why you need the two of us, and Digg too. To stop you from fucking up.’

Oliver looked to Felicity. ‘I can’t ask that of you.’

She smiled. ‘You don’t have to ask, I’m doing it anyway.’

Oliver didn’t really know enough words, to express what he was feeling at the moment, but judging by the looks on Tommy and Felicity’s faces, he didn’t need to.

‘John’s pretty mad, huh?’, Felicity asked next.

‘He punched me in the face’, Oliver admitted, making her wince.

‘To be fair’, Tommy pointed out, ‘he kind of deserved it.’

‘I’ll talk to him’, Felicity nodded with conviction. ‘He’ll come around.’

‘Tomorrow, though’, Tommy smiled, taking Felicity’s blanket and bringing it up to her neck. ‘Go to sleep now.’

He left the room, but Oliver lingered.

‘Thank you’, Felicity smiled. ‘For coming for me.’

‘I was too late’, Oliver shook his head. ‘And I only did it because Digg told me.’

‘It was my fault’, Felicity argued. ‘I didn’t tell you I was hurt, I told you I was going home.’

‘John knew, though. John knew you wouldn’t go home. I didn’t.’

‘Well’, Felicity took a deep breath. ‘That just means you’ll have to get to know me better from now on.’

‘I can do that’, Oliver breathed out. ‘Please let me do that.’

She grinned, and closed her eyes, saying that she was getting very tired. Before he left, Oliver couldn’t stop himself from kissing her forehead. And he promised himself, that he will be a better person. For her, for Tommy, and for Digg.


	49. No witty title, just "the one with the gay club"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [peggycarster](http://peggycarster.tumblr.com/) asked: _I know prompts are closed but what about olicity fanfic where they are dragged to a gay bar and people keep hitting on Oliver and Felicity thinks it's funny or get jealous (it's a true history prompts well most of it, all I can remeber is that was a pole dance thing, I danced on it, i thi k um still drubk) it was a fun night_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is filth O:)  
> here's a quicky

Oliver stared. A lot. At everything that was around him.

It wasn’t the first time he was in a gay club. But it’s been a couple of years, and everything was a lot more… eclectic.

There were men on each and every speaker in the club, men in high heels, pink thongs, fishnet stockings and nothing else. By the DJ, there were two pairs of women, wearing see through dresses over fluorescent underwear, and every pair was dancing around a pole. Together.

Oliver looked to his left.

Thea was dancing surrounded by women. Most of them were women. Some of them were drag queens. She seemed to be enjoying herself.

Oliver looked to his right.

Roy was also surrounded by drag queens. But he wasn’t dancing, even if they were in the middle of the dance floor. Instead, he looked like he was having a very important conversation with the drag queens. He, also, seemed to be okay.

Oliver looked at the bar. Felicity was sitting on it, a fruity cocktail in her hand, talking to the bartender. The bartender, a very muscled man who was wearing a purple dress. She seemed to be enjoying herself a bit too much.

‘Can I get you a drink?’, a voice said in his ear, and when Oliver turned around, there was a shirtless guy looking expectantly at him.

‘No, thanks’, Oliver sighed, ‘I’m fine.’

‘Wanna dance, then?’, the guy went on, boldly putting a hand on Oliver’s shoulder.

‘No, sorry.’

‘Oh, come on-‘, he tried, but Oliver didn’t let him.

‘I’m straight, man. I’m just chaperoning.’

The man pouted. ‘That’s a fucking shame.’ He took one last leering look at Oliver and walked away.

It was the sixth guy that night.

Felicity came by his side then, not saying anything before she plastered her body to his and gave him a kiss, that left Oliver breathing a bit heavily and smiling wildly.

‘You know’, Felicity said around a smile, ‘if you’re interested in a threesome, now would be a good time to do it.’

Oliver’s jaw dropped.

‘I mean, the bartender offered.’, Felicity went on. ‘More for your sake than mine, though. And that woman’, she pointed at the dance floor, at a redhead that was already looking at them.

‘And’, Felicity went on, ‘I’m sure some of the guys who hit on you tonight would be up for it as well, if we asked.’

‘You want that?’, Oliver found his voice.

Felicity shrugged. ‘I wouldn’t be opposed to it, if it’s what you want. Your birthday’s coming up.’, she grinned.

Oliver blinked at her a couple of times, then quickly grabbed her ass.

‘Felicity’, he told her seriously, ‘I really don’t want to share right now. But I would really, really want to fuck you.’

She grinned, rolling her hips once along his.

Then she grabbed a hold of his hand, and dragged him to the bar. She said something to the bartender, which made him pout, but he nodded afterwards. He gave Felicity a set of keys, and Felicity gave him a couple of bills.

Oliver followed Felicity, to the second level of the club, where she opened a room and pushed him inside.

It was a circle room, that had a red couch going around it, and a small table in the middle, that had padding that matched the couch, with a pole through its center.

‘What is this?’, Oliver asked, turning to look at Felicity.

‘Fun’, she said, kissing him quickly afterwards.

Oliver thought he was going to get a show. Felicity told him, long ago, that she knew how to dance around a pole, perks of growing up in Vegas, and he has yet to experience it.

But Felicity got other ideas.

Other very good ideas.

Her pole training still came in hand.

Like when Oliver was sitting down on the couch, and Felicity held her body up only by wrapping her legs around the pole, as she gave Oliver a lazy, long blow job.

Or like how Felicity could push her back to the pole, and wrap her hands around it, over her head, as Oliver ate her out while he knelled on the table.

And Oliver and Felicity had something to hold on to, as she rode him harder and faster than ever.


	50. Felicity runs into the arms of another man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prettyhexo4 asked: _could you do a trope where Felicity has been away somewhere for quite a while and nobody knew where she was or what she was doing there, maybe have it like she has to go to another country to save a long lost relative or something and it's dangerous for Oliver or anyone to get involved so she goes it alone. But could you have it where she and Oliver reunite again and he just holds her like he's never going to let go?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Featuring: National City and Supergirl!

After Felicity breaks up with Palmer, she says she needs a couple of days off. Oliver doesn’t even think of denying her.

She doesn’t tell him where she’s planning on going, just that she’ll be out of town, visiting some friends. Oliver doesn’t press for details, just tells her to be safe and have some fun.

Δ

It’s the middle of the day when Digg bursts into the Foundry, wordlessly turning on the tv.

Oliver freezes.

There’s a live feed of National City, because, as the headline says, an alien is threatening to destroy it.

Supergirl is going head to head with the alien, her red cape mingling with the alien’s dark blue, massive form.

But that wasn’t what made Oliver freeze.

He froze because the screen was split in two. One side showed Supergirl fighting the alien, and the other side showed a closeup of Felicity.

There was a cut on her forehead, she looked absolutely terrified, and there was a man holding her up.

He was also bleeding from several wounds on his face, and his black hair was a mess on top of his head. But it didn’t seem like he was a threat, he looked like he was literally holding Felicity up.

Both of them were looking to the sky, probably at where Supergirl was fighting the alien. Flying. In the sky.

‘I have to get there’, Oliver growled.

‘It’ll be over before you even get on a plane’, Digg countered, highly logical.

‘Barry can-‘, Oliver tried, but Digg cut him off.

‘He’s in France. And he may be able to run on water, but not across the Ocean.’

Oliver swore, hard.

Right then, Felicity’s expression changed. Oliver saw it clearly, her determination and anger.

She turned to the young man that was holding her, detaching herself from his hold. She said something to him, and Oliver didn’t understand it, but he clearly saw the man saying ‘No’. He looked even more frightened.

Felicity didn’t say anything else, before turning around and leaving him. The camera followed her, so Oliver saw Felicity running around, running fast across the street they were in. She picked something off the ground. Then, she started running again, straight towards the alien.

‘What the hell are you doing, Felicity?’, John grumbled under his breath, concern clear. Oliver could relate.

She got as close to the alien and Supergirl as she could get, which was way too close for Oliver’s comfort. But the alien didn’t see her, its back was to Felicity.

There was a gun in her hand, a huge gun, very alien looking. It was bigger than a shotgun, but Felicity had no problem holding it up.

It took a while, because the alien kept moving, but Felicity finally fired. It shot a sort of dart, that etched itself into the back of the alien’s neck.

The alien stopped fighting, kicking Supergirl’s chest with its leg, flinging her across the street. Then, it slowly turned around, it’s eyes clearly focusing in on Felicity.

‘Run’, Oliver saw Felicity mouth. She was screaming, looking at where Supergirl was laying on the ground, the dark haired young man now next to her.

And then, Felicity looked straight into the camera, yelling at the reporters to run.

Felicity started running, quicker than Oliver has ever seen her, clearly leading the alien away from the crowd that gathered.

And then, the alien exploded.

Oliver saw it in slow motion, the blast throwing Felicity to the ground, and a bunch of rubble falling on top of her.

And then, the video feed cut off as John said a very heartfelt ‘God damn it, Felicity’.

Oliver took out his phone.

‘What are you doing?’, John asked.

‘Calling Palmer’, Oliver said, completely emotionless. ‘I need a ride.’

Δ

Once in National City, he tracked down Felicity’s phone to an apartment downtown.

A young woman opened the door, with light brown hair and a big red sweater on. There was no doubt in Oliver’s mind that he was standing in front of Supergirl, the glasses she was wearing did no job of hiding her face.

‘May I help you?’, she asked sweetly.

‘I’m here to see Felicity’.

She blinked at him, twice. ‘You’re Oliver Queen.’

He nodded.

‘Felicity’s in the shower right now.’

‘Sorry’, he smiled, unperturbed. ‘But I’m not leaving.’

‘Of course you’re not’, she shook her head, before inviting him in.

She introduced herself as Kara, and the man he saw on TV earlier, the one holding Felicity, he introduced himself as Winn.

Oliver turned to look at Kara, and he smiled.

‘You’re Supergirl, aren’t you?’

She flustered. Giggled, laughed, shook her head, tried denying it. It was very awkward, and adorable to watch.

Oliver cut her ramblings off. ‘I’m the Arrow.’

Her jaw dropped at that.

‘Right.’, she said slowly. ‘Yes. Yes, I’m Supergirl.’

‘Nice to meet you’, he smirked. ‘How do you know Felicity?’

‘Summer camp.’, came the prompt response, and Oliver shook his head.

Felicity came out of the bathroom then, wearing jeans and a loose Henley shirt, her wet hair falling down on her shoulders.

She froze, briefly, when her eyes locked on his.

‘I’m fine, Oliver’, she sighed. ‘You didn’t need to come all the way down here.’

‘How hurt are you?’

Felicity shook her head. ‘Scrapes and bruises. I didn’t even need to go to the hospital.’

‘God damn it, Felicity’, he swore before he could control himself, making her look up with wide eyes at him, clearly startled.

Oliver didn’t hesitate, in marching up to her side and wrapping Felicity up in his arms.

She froze, at first, but after a couple of seconds, Felicity relaxed. She wrapped her arms around his waist, and fitted her head better into the crook of his neck.

Oliver couldn’t help himself. He held onto her tightly, putting a hand on the crown of her head, wrapping his fingers around her hair.

He took a deep breath and just… stood there, for a while.

And when Felicity tried to detach herself, Oliver didn’t let her.

‘You’re not allowed to do that again.’, he said gruffly.

Felicity stiffened in his arms. ‘You have no right-‘

‘You’re not allowed’, he cut her off, ‘to do that again without me.’

She relaxed at that, chuckling against his chest.

‘Fine’, she nodded. ‘Fine.’

Δ

He spent the night in National City, on Supergirl’s couch, watching Game of Thrones with Supergirl, her sister and her best friend. And with Felicity.

Could’ve gone worse.


	51. Valentine's Day Singles Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> K asked: _Oliver wanted to ask Felicity out on a first date for valentines day, but she has planned an anti-valentines day party._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I just took a break to write something for the fitzsimmons secret valentine oops! 
> 
> ANYWAY. You'll be getting another Valentine's drabble, either later today or tomorrow.
> 
> Have fun today, my dears. With or without a significant other by your side:p

Oliver has been sitting on this for a long time. Years, really. Since the first moment he met Felicity.

Really, he would have asked her out right then and there, but a stern look from Digg stopped him from doing so.

Oliver met her through Digg. After the two men finally found a way to work together, it didn’t take long from them to become friends. So while Digg was still his bodyguard, he also grew to compete with Tommy for the title of Oliver’s best friend.

Felicity came along with Digg into Oliver’s life, because the two of them have been friends since highschool.

Oliver was attracted to her since the moment he saw her, but over the years, he got to know her and Oliver fell for her. Slowly but surely. Over dinners at Digg’s, birthday parties and holidays.

It helped that Felicity worked for QC, too. When Oliver took over the company, he made sure to always ask for Felicity every time there was an IT issue.

They had lunch, sometimes, all three of them in Oliver’s office, and every time there was a gala or a party, that Digg had to wait in the car for, Felicity was there. Stopping by once an hour with a pun or a piece of gossip, helping Oliver stay sane.

So, really, it wasn’t any surprise that he fell for her.

Oliver was thankful that Digg stopped him from asking her out that first time, because if he would have, Oliver wouldn’t have gotten to this point.

And this point was three days before Valentine’s Day, anxiously making his way to Felicity’s office.

He had every intention to ask her out. For Valentine’s Day. To a nice dinner and a show.

Oliver was freaking out, in his head. He was excited and he was anxious and his palms were sweating.

And it was ridiculous, because Felicity will say yes. They’ve gotten a lot closer during the last few months, this was just the next step in their relationship, and it felt natural.

Digg assured Oliver that Felicity will say yes.

It didn’t calm his nerves as much as it should have.

♡♡♡

Felicity was hard at work when Oliver stepped into her office, and it took half of minute for her to stop her aggressive typing before smiling up at him.

‘What can I do for you, Mr. Queen?’

He rolled his eyes. She always called him that if they were in the office, and he hated it, but there was no stopping her.

Oliver made his way to her side of the desk, leaning his hip against it, and Felicity relaxed in her chair and grinned up at him.

‘I have a question’, Oliver started, making sure to smile and not fidget too much. ‘Do you have any plans for Valentine’s Day?’

Felicity blinked. ‘Oh. I was actually going to call tonight and ask you about it.’

That made Oliver pause. ‘Ask me about what?’

‘I’m having a little get together’, Felicity went back to grinning. ‘You know, for people who are single on Valentine’s Day. But not like…’, she pulled a face. ‘Not a party to get everyone to hook up, but a chill game night, with pizza and beer, for people who aren’t depressed that they’re single. You know?’

Oliver nodded, meekly, every thought of a date quickly disappearing.

‘So do you wanna come?’

Felicity was excited about this, clearly, and as far as he could tell, she really wanted him to come.

‘Sure’, he managed to smile. ‘I’d love to.’

She excitedly clapped her hands, going as far and getting up from her chair and kissing his cheek.

Well, shit.

♡♡♡

Felicity’s living room looked different. The couch was pushed to the wall, so that her kitchen table fit in the middle of the room. There was a high stack of boardgames in the middle of it, and Oliver saw that the kitchen counters were piled with booze and snacks.

When she opened the door, Felicity grinned. She was wearing a green flower dress, she had glitter on her eyelids and a bright pink lipstick that almost blinded Oliver. She also had a cupcake in her hand and a smudge of frosting on her lower lip.

It was going to be a long night.

♡♡♡

Oliver has heard a lot about Felicity’s friends, but this was the first time they actually met.

Barry was a little star struck as he shook Oliver’s hand, and it was awkward, but it quickly changed to being funny. Caitlin was soft, and he knew without a doubt that she was a kind woman. Cisco was filled with puns and a little too attached to the bottle of tequila. Roy was a punk, and it wasn’t that Oliver was glad he wasn’t dating his sister anymore, but he was glad they were able to get past the awkwardness.

They were all nerds. All of them. Well, Roy less than the other three, but the only difference was that he didn’t have a phd.

It wasn’t a problem for Oliver. Felicity got him used to nerds a long time ago.

So when Felicity handed him a cold beer and a bag of his favorite chips, and when they decided they were going to play a round of Cluedo to start with, Oliver smiled and went with it.

♡♡♡

It was a nice night, Oliver did have a surprisingly good time.

These people were easy to talk with, easy to joke with, and when they got weirdly competitive and mildly drunk, they were hilarious.

Oliver wasn’t used to these kind of social interaction anymore. Not if it didn’t involve Felicity, Tommy or Digg. But he managed to fit into the group, not be awkward.

Felicity sitting by his side helped, because she kept elbowing him in the ribs if he started sulking, and every time he made a joke, she would gently pinch his outer thigh, and it always make him giggle.

Oliver knew he cared about Felicity a great deal, but in moments like these, it was hard for him to not love her. Fully and desperately.

♡♡♡

‘Thank you a lot for coming’, Felicity told him as he was getting ready to leave. They were alone in the hallway, and her voice was lowered, subdued.

‘Thank you for inviting me’, Oliver smiled. ‘I had a surprisingly good time.’

‘Good’, she breathed out. ‘That was the point of this, to not feel lonely today.’

He took a deep breath, and he spoke the words he wanted to, but Oliver couldn’t lock eyes with her.

‘You’re a remarkable woman, Felicity. I don’t really understand how you’re single.’

‘Well’, she said slowly, hesitance clear, ‘the guy I’m interested it isn’t … up for it.’

That made him look up, frowning. ‘Does he know that you’re interested?’, the words were out of his mouth before he could think about what he was saying.

‘Any man that wouldn’t want to spend every waking moment of his life with you is insane.’

Felicity took a shaky breath, before smiling up at him. She also took a step forward and stood up on her tiptoes.

Oliver lowered and turned his head, expecting her to kiss him on the cheek, as she usually did.

He really didn’t expect to feel her lips on his.

‘He knows now’, Felicity said evenly, putting her palm flat on his chest.

Oliver was completely in shock, so when she pushed, he went with it, taking a step back.

‘I’ll see you later, Oliver’, she smiled, not looking at him. ‘Good night.’

And then she shut the door in his face.

Oliver spent an embarrassing amount of time not moving, still staring at her door.

♡♡♡

She didn’t notice him coming into her office, not until he was right next to her, leaning against her desk, as usual.

Felicity gulped, blushing, but she kept her back straight as she looked up at him.

‘Last week, I came down here to ask you out on a date for Valentine’s Day.’, Oliver admitted.

‘I don’t mind’, he smiled, ‘that I didn’t get to. I really did have fun with your friends. But I… would still very much like to take you out on that date.’

‘Are you doing this because I… because I kissed you?’, she shook his head. ‘Because I don’t need that, Oliver, I just-‘

He stopped what he was sure was going to be a first class ramble by putting a gentle hand on her shoulder.

‘I am doing this because you kissed me’, he tilted his head. ‘Otherwise, I would have probably needed a few more weeks to gather the courage to ask you out.’

It took a couple of beats, but Felicity finally smiled up at him, slowly putting her hand over his.

‘A date sounds lovely.’

Oliver let out a deep breath, relaxing his shoulders, before grinning wildly. He didn’t hesitate, before bending forward and giving her a quick kiss. She didn’t seem to mind, considering she wrapped her fingers around the back of his neck and deepened the kiss.

‘Seriously?’, Digg resigned sigh interrupted them. ‘At the office? Oliver, you were supposed to be in a meeting 10 minutes ago.’

It took another 3 minutes for him to stop kissing Felicity.

Oops.


	52. Valentine's Gift Spree

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [@missmeagan666](http://archiveofourown.org/users/missmeagan666) asked: _Is there any chance for a Oliver pinning for Felicity story. Felicity has a secret admire (Oliver) and he leaves small gifts starting 1st February for her on her desk. Things that he knows will make her smile. Felicity trying to work out who it could be hoping its Oliver. The last day before VD Felicity is shocked to come into work to see a beautiful blue dress (I have the picture if you want to see it) asking her out to dinner. I hope you like this idea. I don't think I have read you doing a VD fic before._

**→February 1st**

Felicity wasn’t a fan of Mondays, but today wasn’t supposed to be a very hard one. Things were pretty chill at QC, Oliver just had a lunch meeting scheduled, but it wasn’t something very important. And for their night job, they didn’t have anything major planned, just some good, old-fashioned patrol.

So Felicity didn’t do what she always did, get to work half an hour early and set everything up for Oliver to find when he got there.

No, not today. Today, she got to work 5 minutes after 9, and she didn’t even feel bad about it, when she saw that Oliver was already there.

He smiled at her, bid her a good morning and gave her a cup of coffee. That was nice of him, Felicity thought. She genuinely didn’t think he knew how to make coffee.

The work day went on, nice and simple, and Felicity even made it to the café across the street for lunch.

There was a box on her desk when she came back. A flat box, about the size of her tablet, wrapped up in red paper, with a gold bow on top.

Felicity called security. ‘No, Miss Smoak, there was no courier delivery for you today.’

‘Uh! Do you have a secret admirer?’, Digg teased, when he and Oliver returned to the office and found Felicity still staring at the box.

‘Nobody delivered it.’, Felicity said. ‘It could be a bomb.’

Digg, bless his soul, gently picked up the box. He put it to his ear, he shook it a bit, he turned it on every side.

‘Felicity’, he said seriously. ‘These are chocolates.’

She blinked, but she did unwrap the present and, sure enough, there was an expensive box of chocolates inside. Peanut free.

There was also a card. Typed on a piece of expensive gold stationary.

_They’re not as sweet as you, Valentine._

‘Isn’t it a bit early?’, Digg asked, reading over her shoulders.

‘Nope’, Felicity finally grinned, wasting no time in opening the box and shoving a chocolate in her mouth.

Digg laughed, and even Oliver chuckled.

 

**→February 2nd**

When she got to the office in the morning, there was a small bouquet of spring flowers sitting on her desk. The flowers were bright and colorful, and they were sitting in an office mug, filled with water.

The card said _They’re not as pretty as you, Valentine_.

 

**→February 3rd**

When she got back from lunch, there was a bracelet waiting for her. It was cheap see-through plastic, but the charm that hung from it was silver, and it was shaped as a very crude caricature of Steve Job’s head.

_He’s not as smart as you, Valentine._

 

**→February 4th**

In the morning, she found a bright pink lipstick, a very luxurious and expensive product. She didn’t waste any time in putting it on, and she did like it, quite a lot. She snorted when she realized that while the lipstick was named ‘Hella bright pink’ and the card said _It's not as bright as you, Valentine._

 

**→February 5th and February 6th**

She laughed a lot when she found a huge stack of pink post-it notes on her desk.

_They’re not as useful as you, Valentine._

But come lunch, there was another gift for her, in the form of a red envelope.

_I had to double up, Valentine. This one’s for tomorrow, to make you feel as good as I know you are._

It was a spa day at a very expensive hotel down town. Felicity was getting spoiled.

And she was loving it.

 

**→February 7th**

She got another bouquet of flowers, red roses this time, delivered to her apartment in the morning.

_They’re not as fresh as you, Valentine._

**→February 8th**

When she got to the office on Monday morning, there was already a present waiting for her.

It was a makeup quad, once again, a very luxurious product, with eyeshadows that were very glittery.

_These are not as shiny as you, Valentine._

‘So it must be someone from the office’, Digg said, and Felicity nodded, she figured out as much.

‘I got something home yesterday.’, Felicity admitted, making John frown.

‘So he knows where you live.’

‘It’s not like it’s classified information’, she shrugged. ‘It’s in my employee record.’

‘Still’, John tilted his head. ‘You didn’t check the security footage? See who’s delivering these?’

‘No’, Felicity smiled at him. ‘That would ruin the surprise, wouldn’t it?’

John huffed, unconvinced.

‘John’, Oliver leveled him with a look. ‘If Felicity’s secret admirer isn’t a good guy, we will deal with him, of course.’

She rolled her eyes at that, but Oliver ignored her.

‘He doesn’t seem evil, he seems kind of…’

‘Sweet’, Felicity said confidently, when it was clear that Oliver wasn’t going to finish.

He smiled at her, and that was the end of the discussion.

 

**→February 9th**

A box of cupcakes. Once again, peanuts free, completely organic, and with bright pink frosting.

_These might be as sweet as you, Valentine, but you’re cuter._

Felicity snorted. And moaned when she tasted the sugary goodness.

 

**→February 10th**

She got another charm for her bracelet. This time, it was a silver bow with a tiny arrow with a red arrowhead.

 _He’s not as brave as you are, Valentine_.

She really hoped this guy didn’t know about her affiliation with the Hood. Because if he did, they’d both get in trouble with Oliver.

And she really didn’t want that.

 

**→February 11th**

After lunch, she found a teddy bear sitting in her chair. It was the fluffiest thing she has ever touched, and it was wearing a pink tutu.

_She’s not as cute as you are, Valentine._

 

**→February 12nd**

She got a pair of shoes. Very expensive shoes. So expensive, that she forgot to breathe a while there.

Honestly, she’s been wanting a pair of Louboutin’s since forever, but Felicity couldn’t bear to spend that much money on shoes.

And these, these were the ones she wanted. High heeled nudes with the red sole.

Gorgeous, they were absolutely gorgeous, and in her size.

_These are not as hot as you are, Valentine._

‘Whoohoo’, John whistled. ‘Those look expensive.’

‘They are’, Felicity gulped.

‘But do you like them?’, Oliver asked, and she stared at him.

‘Are you kidding me? I’ve been pinning over these since forever.’

Oliver laughed, and Felicity spent the rest of the day thinking about her secret Valentine, and the amount of trouble he went through for her.

 

**→February 13th**

Saturday morning, she got another delivery at home.

A simple gold necklace, with a very stylish F pendent.

_It’s not as precious as you are, Valentine._

Felicity spent the rest of the day thinking about who her secret Valentine was. It was a hard thing to do, because the more she thought about it, the more she thought about Oliver.

But he never once gave her any indication that it was him.

 

**→February 14th**

Felicity wasn’t even surprised when the delivery guy handed her a big, flat box.

And sure enough, there was a dress inside. Expensive, and gorgeous, and it fit her perfectly. It had a simple line, but a generous cleavage, and a royal blue color that suited her skin tone.

Of course, the shoes matched. And the necklace.

 _Will you do me the pleasure of being my Valentine?_ , the card said, along with a restaurant and an hour.

Well then.

It looked like Felicity had a date.

**→**

She was excited and anxious, of course she was, but she was also mildly scared.

But she wasn’t stupid, so in the Foundry, she told the boys that she had plans, but if she didn’t contact them after 2 hours, letting them know she was okay, they should totally cancel their plans and come to her rescue.

‘Of course’, Oliver was quick to nod, but Digg, he just smirked.

‘I have a feeling you won’t need it.’

Felicity narrowed her eyes. ‘Do you know something that I don’t?’

Digg, the bastard, just laughed. Felicity sighed, but let him be, turning to look at Oliver.

‘What about you? Do you have any plans?’

Oliver smiled, and nodded. ‘Yes, I’m going to have a drink with Thea, and then I… I actually have a date.’

Felicity fought against her disappointment.

‘That’s great, Oliver.’, she managed to sound truthful. ‘I hope you have a great time.’

He smiled at her, a playful look in his eyes. ‘So do I’.

**→**

Felicity was a ball of nerves when she got to the restaurant. He told the placer her name, and the man smiled at her.

‘Your date is already here, Miss Smoak’.

‘Oh’, Felicity breathed out, absently fixing imaginary creases in her dress.

‘You seem nervous’, the man pointed out, not unkindly.

‘I am’, she admitted. ‘First date and all.’

He frowned. ‘Really?’

‘Yeah’, Felicity breathed out. ‘Blind date, on top of it all.’

‘Oh’, the man said, grinning afterwards. ‘Well, you’re in for a surprise.’

He didn’t explain as he led her to the table.

All her breath left Felicity when she locked eyes with Oliver. He quickly stood up from his chair, and smiled softly at her.

‘Enjoy your evening’, the placer said, but Felicity barely heard him.

‘You look amazing, Felicity’, Oliver said, effortlessly guiding her to the chair, and pulling it out for her.

She just gaped at him.

‘Seriously?’, she finally found her voice, even though it was high pitched.

‘Very much so’, he smirked.

It took a few beats, but Felicity managed to relax.

‘You’re sneaky.’

Oliver smirked, looking up at her from under his eyelashes. ‘You seem to have enjoyed it.’

‘I did’, she admitted. ‘I really did.’

‘So I did well?’, he smiled at her, very, very playfully.

‘You did’, Felicity laughed. ‘Wait’, she frowned. ‘Do I need to text Digg?’

Oliver laughed. ‘No, I told him yesterday.’

Felicity chuckled, feeling giddy. It was slightly embarrassing.

‘So, Valentine’, Oliver grinned, his cheeks red. ‘Wine or champagne?’

 Well. Maybe she didn’t feel _that_ embarrassed.


	53. Who?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [starfirecinnamon](http://starfirecinnamon.tumblr.com/) asked: _So I know that OLICITY prompts are closed but could you maybe consider a Arrow/Doctor Who crossover? Like maybe Felicity was once a Doctor's companion?_

He’s hiding in bushes, silently watching the fishermen who came on the island.

Five years ago, he would have been ecstatic. He would have regarded the boat as a miracle, a way to get off the island, to go home.

Now, he didn’t want to be seen.

‘Hello’, a man said from behind Oliver. He didn’t hesitate, in grabbing his bow and pointing an arrow straight at the man’s chest.

It was a young man, dressed over the top. A brown patterned suit jacket, a white button up shirt and a dark red bow tie. His hair was perfectly styled, swept to the side and he didn’t belong there. Not one bit.

The blue police box that was behind him didn’t belong on the island either. In fact, Oliver has never seen it on the island. It wasn’t there a couple of minutes ago

‘Calm down, Oliver’, the man said in a British accent. ‘There’s no need to hurt me.’

‘Who are you?’, Oliver gritted out. His voice was scratchy. He honestly didn’t really remember the last time he spoke.

‘A friend… of a friend’, the man smiled easily.

‘I don’t have friends’, Oliver pointed out.

‘Not yet, you don’t. I’m the Doctor.’

Oliver frowned. ‘I don’t need a doctor.’

‘I think you do, but that’s not what I’m here for.’

‘How did you get here?’, Oliver had to ask, because he hadn’t seen any planes, helicopters or any other boats.

The man pointed to the police box behind him. ‘In my Tardis. It stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space, so it’s not only a traveling device, but it’s also a time machine.’

Oliver was hallucinating, then. That wasn't even new.

‘I’m here from the future’, the Doctor smiled at him. ‘A good friend of ours, she asked me to come here and make sure you leave.’

‘Leave?’, Oliver frowned, tightening his hold on the bow.

‘Yes. Those men’, he pointed over Oliver’s shoulder, ‘they can take you home.’

‘I can’t go home’, Oliver shook his head.

‘You have to’, the Doctor said, pointedly. ‘There are a lot of things as stake, there are a lot of worlds depending on you getting on that boat and returning to Starling City.’

Oliver dropped his bow and his arrow, opting to run his hands over his eyes instead.

‘I haven’t hallucinated a stranger before’, he mumbled. ‘I’m getting sick, I need to take better care of myself.’

Then there was a hand on his shoulder, and he startled.

The Doctor smiled at him, easily.

‘You’re not hallucinating, Oliver. And you don’t believe me.’

‘How could I?’, he shook his head.

‘Let’s make a deal, then’, the Doctor took his hand away. ‘If I do something that will make you believe that what I said was true, then will you go home?’

Oliver snorted. ‘Sure.’

‘Swear on it’, the Doctor insisted.

He didn’t have anything to lose, so Oliver did, shaking the Doctor’s hand.

‘Before I go’, he said, ‘let me give you a piece of advice. In the future, when it comes to the people you want to get close to, you should trust your instinct.’

Oliver raised an eyebrow.

‘There will come a moment when you will meet someone, well, I think you have already seen her, and at a crossroad in your life, it will be her face that will appear in front of your eyes. You’ll hesitate, and you shouldn’t.’

‘You’re not making any sense.’, Oliver said, slowly, making the Doctor frown.

‘You’ll know what I’m talking about when you get there. It won’t be too long, now.’

He turned around and opened the door to the police box, and Oliver’s breath caught in his throat. Because the space, it was bigger on the inside.

‘Have a safe journey home’, the Doctor grinned at him, closing the door behind himself.

And then, before Oliver’s eyes, the … what did he call it? … the Tardis disappeared, making a very odd croaking sound.

Oliver took a deep breath.

He thought of Thea. And his mother.

And he made his way to the fishermen.

≈

A few months later, as he was trying to stop the bleeding from the bullet his mother put in him, Felicity’s face came before his eyes.

He hesitated, but then the Doctor’s words came to him.

≈

Years later, Felicity is dancing with Oliver at their wedding, when he hears a sound he only heard once before, a croaking sound, an impossible sound.

He freezes, and so does Felicity.

A few seconds later, someone comes in the hall. It’s an older man, with big hair and big eyebrows, wearing a black suit and grinning at them, when his eyes landed on them.

‘Do you know him?’, Oliver asks, slowly.

Felicity shakes her head and drags him by the hand.

‘Hello!’, the man says when they get to him. ‘Congratulations, newlyweds!’

It’s said in a thick Scottish accent, and it makes Felicity and Oliver falter.

‘Ah, yes’, the man nods. ‘I understand your confusion. The last time you saw me, I had a younger face. And a coordination problem.’

Felicity gasps. ’Doctor?’

He smiles softly down at her. ‘I did promise I'd be here, dear friend.’

Felicity jumps in his arms, and the Doctor hugs her back.

He looks at Oliver then, not saying anything. But Oliver can read the cockiness in it, the Doctor is proud of himself.

‘I can’t stay’, he pushes Felicity gently away. ‘I just wanted to extend my congratulations and’, he winks at her, ‘you have a present in your bedroom.’

He leaves without saying another word, and a few seconds later, they hear the sounds of the Tardis disappearing.

‘You have got some explaining to do’, Oliver tells his wife, but she just grins up at him.

≈

Later that night, they find a newspaper on their bed.

It’s from 30 years into the future, and it speaks about the Arrow’s call to arms, about him looking for someone to take his place.

Oliver can’t believe it, and Felicity laughs a lot.

 


	54. Touch starved

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zugzo asked: _Can you do a story where Roy accidentally lets slips that he likes when Felicity patches him up (in a motherly way) so he gets slightly more injured the field than he normally would and Oliver and Dig feeling sad/understanding of him._
> 
> During 4x12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a quicky.  
> (cause I've been so wrapped up in Marvel I couldn't write olicity!!? it sucks. I hope I can get over it soon.)

Oliver prepared the supplies he needed to patch Roy up, but he paused, when he saw the younger man frown.

‘What?’, Oliver asked, slowly. ‘It’s not the first time I’ve stitched you up.’

‘It’s just that’, Roy shook his head, looking down. If Oliver didn’t know better, he’d say that Roy looked embarrassed.

Roy sighed, shaking his head.

‘Is there any way Felicity could do it?’

Oliver looked to Felicity. She shrugged, unperturbed.

‘Sure, Roy. But you’ll have to … lie down on some chairs. I can’t reach the med table.’

Oliver didn’t say anything, as he did his best to make Felicity’s job easier, even as she didn’t move from the wheelchair.

They were silent as Felicity started working, but Oliver couldn’t help but notice the way Roy was looking at her. It was sweet, and caring.

‘Could you possibly stop staring?’, Felicity asked, and Oliver was surprised that she noticed it as well.

‘Sorry’, Roy flinched. ‘It’s just that I’ve missed this.’

‘What?’, Felicity snorted. ‘Me patching you up?’

‘Yeah’, he admitted.

Felicity looked up at that, clearly confused.

‘You’re fussing’, Roy smiled a bit. ‘Taking extra care of the stitches, and you do this thing, you bite on your lower lip when you clean up a wound, it’s adorable.’

‘You’re touch starved’, Felicity said quickly, but she obviously felt bad about it.

‘I guess’, Roy shrugged. ‘I missed you guys.’

Felicity sniffed, and Oliver took a step towards her, but she waved him off.

‘You’re gonna say you need to leave, aren’t you?’, Felicity said in a harsh tone, not even looking up at Roy.

‘You know I have to’, Roy breathed out, lowering his voice.

Felicity didn’t say anything else, as she kept working on the stitching.

When she was done, Felicity pointedly pulled at Roy, until he understood what she wanted. He bended down, and Felicity wrapped a hand around his shoulders, as she sweetly kissed his cheek.

Then, she glared at him, not letting him go just yet.

‘I love you. And I know you have to leave, and I am grateful that you are doing that for us, but I hate it. I absolutely hate it. And you will absolutely give us a phone number and you will pick up when we call. Understood?’

Roy grinned. ‘Yes, ma’am.’

‘Good’, Felicity nodded, letting go of Roy. ‘Now go shower, you stink.’

On his way to the bathroom, Roy leveled Oliver with a look.

‘You happy, lover boy?’

Oliver snorted, but he also pointedly looked at Felicity’s finger, the one that held his mother’s ring.

Roy snorted as well. ‘Fair enough.’


	55. Hold your colors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [@Tantasticlulu](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Tantasticlulu/pseuds/Tantasticlulu) asked: _A prompt for you when Oliver was on the island he became unable to see colour. This continued when he returned to stealing only seeing the world in black and white until he met Felicity and then saw colours. Thanks ;)_
> 
> Slightly changed, in the sense that people see in b&w until they see their soulmates. Also. TOMMY LIVES, OKAY?!

For most of his life, Oliver thought the whole soulmate business was bullshit. He couldn’t possibly conceive of the world around him being filled with something other than shades of gray.

Tommy could see color, but he hasn’t met his soulmate. He said he doesn’t even remember when it started, he was so young. Same thing goes for Laurel.

They both should have met their soulmates years ago, but they haven’t.

Oliver's parents weren’t soulmates. They’ve been married for years, but neither of them saw colors.

Raisa had a soulmate, but he died, and she kept on seeing in color.

So yeah, Oliver really did think this soulmate business was bullshit. So he just ignored it.

But there were few people that thought like him. Most people looked at Laurel and Tommy with pity, they acted like their lives didn’t have a purpose anymore because they missed their soulmates. It was horrible, and it pissed Oliver off.

It was probably why he got together with Laurel. And cheated on her a handful of times.

≈≡≈

He didn’t have a lot of time to think while he was dead.

But on the off chance he did, Oliver thought of only one thing: how glad he was that he didn’t have a soulmate.

Oliver was sure, that if he had someone, he wouldn’t have been able to survive his exile. Not that it was easy this way, it really wasn’t, but if he was able to see the red of the blood on his hands, if he knew that someone was missing him back home, then Oliver’s emotions would have been a lot more chaotic that they were now.

For three years, Oliver was happy to see shades of gray. And then Amanda send him back to Starling City, on a job.

It was there, late one night, in the middle of his father’s old office, that Oliver saw color for the first time.

Yellow. He saw yellow, probably. The bright color of this woman’s hair.

This woman, who was babbling all alone in a room, who was talking about _him_.

Oliver didn’t have the luxury to think about it. To think about the yellow in her hair, the pink of her lips, the blue of her eyes. He had a mission, he had a job.

Still. He smiled.

≈≡≈

Years later, Oliver sees her again. He doesn’t mention it, doesn’t say one word about it, but he waits.

Because, if she was truly his soulmate, if Felicity Smoak was supposed to be the love of his life, then this would be the moment when she would start seeing color, and she’d knew.

Considering how much she babbled, Oliver waited for her to say something.

She didn’t.

She didn’t say one single thing, about colors or soulmates.

Nothing changed in her demeanor, movement, general state. Oliver knew that nobody would have been able to hide it, the sudden appearance of colors.

But she did not say anything about it.

Which meant that… Oliver didn’t know exactly what it meant. Maybe she had another soulmate, maybe things changed, since he last saw her, maybe there was some other explanation.

Suddenly, Oliver didn’t care.

As he thought, it was all bullshit. This only cemented that opinion.

He didn’t have time for a soulmate, anyway. Oliver had better things to do. Like catch a sniper and save his city.

≈≡≈

He never intended to get close to Felicity. He needed her skills, yes, but … that was it. There couldn’t be anything more between then, and Oliver was fine with that.

But as he was bleeding from a bullet shot by his mother, Felicity was the only person he could think of.

Because he trusted her, because he knew she was still at the office, because he needed her. Because he was bleeding out.

So Oliver went to Felicity.

≈≡≈

He never intended to get close to Felicity, but it was an impossible thing to avoid, once she started being a constant in the Foundry.

And after everything, after the city exploded, after he killed his best friend’s father, after he got Digg to a hospital, after Oliver realized that he was happy that Laurel and Tommy finally figured out that they were supposed to be together, after Thea pointedly said that they’ll figure out what to do about their mother in the morning, Oliver couldn’t help but think of Felicity.

So when Tommy asked about her, he didn’t even flinch.

‘She was at the club’, he started by saying. ‘There’s some damage, but it’s fixable.’

‘I asked how _she_ was’, Tommy pointed out.

Oliver shrugged. ‘Shaken up, obviously, but she seemed okay. She went home.’

‘Who’s Felicity?’, Thea asked and Oliver blinked a couple of times. He never thought that they didn’t know each other.

‘She’s a friend’, Tommy explained when it was clear Oliver didn’t know what to say. ‘Works in IT at QC, and she helped us with setting up the club.’

‘Oh’, Laurel frowned. ‘She’s the one with pretty hair and a foot in her mouth, right?’

Tommy snorted, but he did nod.

‘You met her once’, Oliver finally told Thea. ‘At the hospital, when Walter-‘

‘Oh, yeah’, Thea nodded. ‘I remember now.’

She narrowed her eyes. ‘She’s your friend too?’

Oliver nodded. He would have blushed, probably, if it was a thing he was still able to do.

‘You should ask her over’, Thea said strongly.

‘Totally’, Tommy nodded.

‘She shouldn’t be alone’, Laurel agreed, and that was that.

Surprisingly, it didn’t take long for Oliver to convince Felicity. All it took was the promise of good wine and a pantry filled with snacks.

Felicity came with her face free of makeup, with her hair loose, in a pair of skinny jeans and a loose purple Henley.

‘Do you want me to say I’m sorry for what happened with your mother?’, were the first words she said to Thea. ‘Cause I will, but I personally think that doesn’t stand for much.’

‘I like you’, were the first words Thea said to her, and then they both went to pick out a bottle (or five) of wine.

≈≡≈

Hours later, Felicity sneezed and Thea was quick to offer her a hoodie.

She took it with a grin on her face. ‘Pink is my favorite color’, Felicity offered easily, and they all stared at her.

‘Oh’, Felicity breathed out. ‘I didn’t tell you that, right.’

‘So who is he?’, Tommy was the first one to recover.

Felicity smiled at that, but it didn’t look happy. ‘It doesn’t matter, because when he saw me, he didn’t … nothing happened.’

There was silence following that sentence, and Oliver found himself breaking it.

‘Same’, was all he said, and now they were all staring at him.

‘When?’, Thea asked in a very soft voice.

‘A couple of years ago’, he shrugged.

‘While you were still… away’, Tommy said, needing reassurance.

Oliver nodded, and there was silence again. This time, Thea was the one to break it.

‘So I’m the only one in this room who still sees in black and white.’

Felicity snorted. ‘Enjoy it while it lasts. I’m not saying it can’t be good’, she waved a hand absently at Laurel and Tommy, ‘but let me tell you about how many hours of therapy I clocked in for dealing with seeing colors with no soulmate by my side.’

Oliver didn’t have therapy. He needed it, sure, but… He didn’t like thinking that Felicity has felt the same thing he has. The disappointment, the utterly devastating sadness, the feeling of someone ripping the heart out of his chest.

Still, Felicity smiled. ‘The colors are pretty, though’.

That had everyone laughing.

≈≡≈

Introducing Felicity to everyone was a bad, bad move, considering Oliver was now sitting at Verdant, at a table with Tommy, Thea, Digg and Felicity, and a bottle of tequila in front of them.

Oliver still felt the arrow between his fingers, the arrow that killed the Count. But Felicity wasn’t shaking anymore.

‘Truth or dare?’, Thea asked.

‘Truth’, Felicity nodded strongly.

Thea tilted her head. ‘Who’s your soulmate?’

Felicity winced, before drinking two shots.

‘I can’t tell you his name’, she finally said, looking down. ‘But… I met him at QC. He lied to me and he used me and I still…’, Felicity cleared her throat. ‘But he never said anything… so.’

‘Why didn’t you?’, Thea asked, not unkindly.

‘And how did you hide it?’, Oliver found himself saying. ‘I mean, you must have reacted, when you saw colors. He didn’t notice it?’

Felicity looked at him, something so very sad in her eyes.

‘At QC, it was just the first time _he_ saw me’, she explained. ‘I saw him years before, and now, he … nothing changed, when he saw me. So… why would I have said anything? It’s clear that there’s nothing there.’

For the first time, Oliver doubted it. Because she was talking about him.  He was certain of it.

‘There’s nothing there’, Felicity said again. ‘Just a screw up the Universe made with my life.’

≈≡≈

Oliver tells Tommy about it.

His best friend doesn’t interrupt Oliver as he talks, Tommy just stares, expression unreadable.

‘This makes a lot of sense, actually’, Tommy said when Oliver was done.

‘I mean’, he went on, ‘since the first time I saw you interacting with her, I knew there was something there.’

Oliver frowned at that, because it didn’t make a lot of sense.

‘Can you honestly tell me you don’t feel anything for her?’, Tommy went on, watching Oliver softly. ‘Beyond the colors and the soulmates, can you honestly tell me you don’t care about her?’

‘She’s my friend’, Oliver didn’t hesitate in saying. ‘She’s my partner.’

‘It’s more than that’, Tommy said confidently, and yes, yes there was.

He didn’t say it out loud, but Tommy knew it anyway.

‘You should talk to her’, he patted Oliver’s shoulder. ‘I know you’re scared to do it, but… it’s Felicity. Hurting you is the last thing she wants to do.’

Tommy was right, so Oliver gathered enough courage to do just that.

≈≡≈

‘We need to talk’, he tried to keep his tone light, but Felicity still froze.

It was late one night, and they were still at the office, the only ones left. Oliver had taken off his jacket hours ago, and Felicity’s heels were sitting on the windowsill behind her desk.

‘What’s wrong?’, she asked, clearly anxious.

Oliver sighed. ‘I’m not sure if anything is wrong, per say, but… we still need to talk.’

She bit on her lower lip, but Felicity did nod and made her way to Oliver’s office, sitting down on the couch. He joined her, close, but still leaving a comfortable distance between them.

‘Look’, she sighed, ‘I know what you’re going to say, and it doesn’t matter.’

‘Oh?’, he frowned.

‘Just because I saw colors because of you’, Felicity went on, not looking at him, ‘that doesn’t mean anything, okay? You’re not, under any circumstance, obligated to do anything about it. About me.’

Oliver swallowed. ‘When did you see me? First?’

‘Vegas’, she smirked. ‘I was getting ready to leave for college, and you were celebrating your 21st.’

Oliver flinched, making her giggle.

‘Yeah, you were drunk off your ass.’

It took a while for Oliver to gather his thoughts and his courage, and he took a deep breath before forcing himself to look at Felicity.

‘When I first saw you, I was three years into my exile and Amanda Palmer made me break into Walter’s office to steal some information.’

Felicity stopped breathing, but she didn’t look away from him. That gave Oliver courage.

‘You were looking at a picture of me, babbling about how cute I was, and …’, he took a shaking breath, ‘and the first colors I ever saw were your blonde hair and blue eyes.’

‘Why didn’t you say anything?’, Felicity breathed out after a few long seconds.

‘Because you didn’t’, Oliver shrugged. ‘When you first saw me, what I thought was the moment you first saw me, you didn’t react.’

Felicity breathed out, a long drag, looking away from Oliver, opting to stare down at her hands.

‘So this was … just a very big misunderstanding?’

That gave him hope. ‘Yeah’, Oliver breathed out. ‘Yes.’

Felicity shook her head. ‘You always said you didn’t believe in soulmates.’

Oliver flinched. ‘How could I, when … when that happened? And when I grew up with Laurel and Tommy, who both saw colors but had no one?’

‘But…’, Felicity looked back at him, hesitating. ‘But they’re together now.’

‘Yes’, Oliver nodded. ‘And now, I … I fell in love with you even though I knew I shouldn’t.’

Felicity gasped, softly, her cheeks turning a bright red.

‘Good’, she breathed out. ‘That’s… good, Oliver.’

‘Yeah?’, he hated how much hesitation there was in his tone.

But she heard it, and Felicity smiled, boldly grabbing a hold of his hand and wrapping their fingers together.  

Oliver smiled, a weight being lifted off his shoulders. Then, for once in what felt like forever, he did the proper thing. He asked Felicity out to dinner, and she accepted with a big grin on her face.

≈≡≈

They didn’t exactly get to dinner, because Oliver loved seeing Felicity wearing red, and she loved seeing him wearing a dark blue suit, and they just had to get each other out of them.


	56. Role Reversal 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [waiting-for-meaning](http://waiting-for-meaning.tumblr.com/) asked: _Open prompts!!! Have you ever written a role-reversal fix, where Felicity is The Arrow and Oliver is the tech genius? I'd love to see how the reunion after the fight with Ra's al Ghul when Felicity was the one thought dead. Please?!?!?!_
> 
> Yes, yes I have. This is a continuation of [Role Reversal](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1414105/chapters/5036768).

Oliver and Felicity have been married for three years when she dies. He sees it happening.

He’s not there, but he sees a satellite image, of Ra’s al Ghul sinking his sword in Felicity’s chest and sees her falling over the edge.

Oliver didn’t even know he could scream like that. It terrified him, and he wasn’t even sure the sound he was hearing was coming from his throat.

He couldn’t stop. He couldn’t stop screaming, and crying, and yelling her name, over and over again.

Digg punched him, and Oliver didn’t scream anymore, because he was unconscious.

→→

The next week was torture.

Oliver was forced to deal with… everything. The official story was that Felicity was missing. Not a big lie, but Oliver knew better.

He told Lance the truth, all of the truth, even if… Felicity would have hated him for doing it. Oliver always said that The Arrow’s secret identity was Felicity’s secret to tell, hers and only hers, but now she was gone. And Lance deserved to know the truth. He needed to, considering it was a missing’s person case.

It was nervewrecking. Doing press calls and interviews and conferences and he’s been by Felicity’s side for years, he was supposed to know how to deal with these things.

But now, he was… ‘a mess’, Digg put it. Oliver would have phrased it more like ‘he was slowly but surely dying’.

He crashed on Digg’s couch, because the house he shared with Felicity was empty and every time he stepped into their bedroom, he felt like everything in and around him was on fire.

Oliver tried to work, he went into his office every day, but it was useless, he couldn’t focus on any of his projects. And everybody kept looking at him with pity in their eyes.

And they didn’t even know. Everybody thought Felicity was missing. But Oliver knew the truth, and it hurt him more than everything in his life ever had.

→→

People used the word ‘missing’.

His friends, the ones who knew the truth, the never said ‘dead’, they always said ‘gone’.

Oliver… saw it. He saw Felicity bleed, he saw her fall. He knew, logically speaking, that there was no way on earth and heaven that she could have survived that wound and that fall.

However… He felt it. He knew she was still alive. Somehow. 

Oliver never voiced the thought out loud, though. Because if he did, he knew he’d realize that he was losing his mind, and that would probably break him for good.

So instead, he put on a show. He acted like he wanted to quit the Foundry, knowing that it will make Digg and Roy get back to business.

And they did.

Two weeks after Felicity went ‘missing’, Oliver was back in the Foundry, directing Digg and Roy.

That’s when she turned up.

It was funny, that Oliver’s first thought was to ask himself where Felicity got the suit. But then he realized that it was at the house, at their house. He couldn’t bear to look at it in the Foundry.

Then Oliver realized that Felicity was out there, in the streets. Wearing her green hood, standing stiffly with her bow in hand, talking to the crowds, apologizing for being away, giving them hope.

‘Are you seeing this, Oliver?’, Digg asked over the comms.

He breathed in, he breathed out. ‘Yes’, he said slowly. ‘I’m not sure I’m not hallucinating.’

Digg laughed, completely delighted. It didn’t happen often, and it threw Oliver off.

‘You’re not hallucinating, man’, Digg said, still laughing. ‘She’s back.’

Oliver … needed to know for sure.

→→

‘We’re going home’, Digg said at some point. ‘Felicity’s coming your way.’

Oliver still didn’t believe it.

→→

She took the stairs slowly, methodically. Oliver stared, frozen in place.

It was Felicity, just as he knew her. The familiar lines of her suit, her hood down to reveal her hair piled up in a messy braid. Her skin was pale, paler than it should have been, but her lips were pink. Not her usual shade of lipstick, but like she bit on them.

She didn’t say anything as she made her way to the case that held her suit. Felicity slowly put her bow in its place, then her quiver and the jacket of the suit. She had a simple black tanktop underneath, but he’s seen her enough in them to know that something was wrong.

There was an unusual bump on her torso, and it didn’t take long for Oliver to realize that it was a bandage covering the wound from the sword.

That made him gasp, which in turn made Felicity turn to look at him.

‘I am so sorry’, her chin wobbled, ‘that I couldn’t come sooner.’

‘Are you okay?’, was a dumb thing to say, but Oliver did it anyway.

It made her smile. ‘I’m alive. I’m uh’, she frowned, running her fingers over her chest. ‘I’m still hurt, but it’ll heal. And I’m pretty sure I’m in... big trouble.’

‘With Ra’s?’, Oliver was a genius, and he was always pleasantly surprised when his brain still worked in high pressure situations.

The look Felicity threw him was a proud one. Sad, but proud.

‘Yeah. I… I probably shouldn’t have returned’, Felicity said slowly. ‘Cause that puts a target on your back, and on Digg’s, and Roy’s and…’, she took a deep breath. ‘Everybody in the city.’

Oliver wet his lips.

‘I should have stayed dead’, Felicity said, but it lacked force.

He couldn’t think of anything to say, so he let his instinct kick in. And, as always, his instinct was to run to Felicity and wrap her in his arms.

Oliver was crying, but so was she, and he finally got the proof he needed.

Felicity was alive. She was breathing, she was whispering words of love into his chest, she smelt like gunpowder and sweat, and she was alive.

Alive and in his arms.

They’ll deal with Ra’s al Ghul later.


	57. Top and bottom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [thehighkeyfangirl](http://thehighkeyfangirl.tumblr.com/) asked: _A man and a woman need something to sleep in. They both go to the same men's sleepwear department. The man says to the sales person: 'I just need bottoms.' The woman says: 'I just need a top.' And that's how they meet.-The Holiday_

Felicity was supposed to be happy.

She was in London, finally, after having dreamt about it for as long as she could remember. Now she was here, and will be here for the next month. A month of piece and quiet and exploring, a break between college and staring her new job.

She was supposed to be happy.

But it was hard. Because the flight had been long and a slow kind of torture, because she sat in front of a mother with a baby. Felicity didn’t sleep for the entire 11 hours.

And after she landed, she was held up in the airport for another three hours, even though all her papers were in order.

They also lost one of her suitcases. Well, it was delayed, they knew exactly where it was, accidentally in Italy. There were promises of having it returned safely, but it’ll take two days.

After dealing with all of that, Felicity had to wait an hour for the guy she rented a studio from. She understood it, because she was about 7 hours late by now.

When she finally got into the studio, she was pleasantly surprised, because it looked better than in the pictures. She’ll have absolutely no trouble living here for a month, and that realization was the highlight of her day.

All Felicity wanted to do was take a hot shower, crawl into bed, and sleep off the jetlag.

Her pajamas were in the other suitcase. It was summer, so it was warm enough to sleep in just a tshirt for the next couple of days.

But she didn’t have any tshirts to spare for bed.

So Felicity swore, grumbled, and made her way to the closest store. Which turned out to be a TopShop.

Except, she never liked the way woman’s pajamas clung to her body, so Felicity headed into TopMan.

She found the simplest pajama available, a dark blue that she kind of liked, and … just stared at it.

‘May I help you?’, a nice young man that worked in the shop asked.

Felicity sighed. ‘There isn’t any way in which I could buy just half of the pajama, right?’

The man blinked at her. ‘No, I’m sorry.’

There was a nasty curse on the tip of her tongue, but she controlled herself.

‘Which half?’

Felicity yelped when there was a new voice close to her ear. There was a man next to her, frowning down at the pajama that Felicity was still holding. He was a nice looking man, Felicity absently thought.

‘No, really, which half do you want to buy?’, he said again, and now Felicity noticed the American accent.

‘The top one’, she answered.

The man grinned at her. ‘Great, cause I want to buy the lower one and’, he grabbed the pajama from her hands and turned it around in his, ‘and this size fits me.’

‘Thank you’, Felicity breathed out.

‘No problem’, he winked at her.

She was too tired to even blush.

The young man guided them to the check out, and he kept sending them odd looks, but the guy didn’t seem bothered, and Felicity was too exhausted to care.

They each paid for half of the pajama, and he opened it, fumbled with it a bit. He kept the pants, throwing them over his shoulder, and let her have the tshirt and the bag it came in.

‘Thank you’, he grinned at her, following her out of the store. ‘I never use the shirts and they always go to waste.’

Felicity smiled. ‘Your girlfriend doesn’t steal them?’

He raised an eyebrow at that, and it was only then that Felicity understood what she said.

‘I’m sorry’, she flinched, ‘I wasn’t hitting on you, I’m just jetlagged and annoyed.’

He snorted. ‘That’s okay, miss. Well’, he grinned, extending a hand, ‘it was a pleasure doing business with you.’

She shook his hand, smiling.

‘Enjoy your stay in London’, he went on, winking once before turning around and walking away, in the opposite direction that Felicity was supposed to.

Pretty good end to a horrible day, she thought. The shirt was very soft.

○○○

Two days later, Felicity was woken up in the middle of the night by the fire alarm. But even in her shock and fright, she had enough piece of mind to grab her glasses and phone off the nightstand, and on her way out, she took her laptop bag, which also held her passport.

But that was it.

So when she got out of the building, while everybody else was wearing slippers and bathrobes, Felicity was wearing just her pajama shirt and a pair of socks. And she was the only one who had any of her possessions on her.

Embarrassing.

So embarrassing.

And cold. It was cold out.

The fire department told them that there was a fire in the basement of the building. They extinguished it already, but apparently, there was a lot of smoke that got in through the air vents. The fire department will ventilate the whole building, and make sure there wasn’t any damage done to the structural integrity.

All Felicity heard was the fact that she had to spend the night out, wearing socks and a tshirt.

She was just about to start crying, when someone came by her side, boldly putting a hand on her shoulder.

It took her a few beats to recognize the pajama man.

‘Are you okay?’, he looked concerned.

‘Yeah’, Felicity breathed out. ‘I’m fine, I’m just… half naked.’

He smiled at that. ‘I live pretty close by and I do have the other half of your pajamas.’

Red lights went off in Felicity’s head, along with the words _stranger danger_ , but before she could say anything, one of the firemen made his way towards them.

‘Sorry, Oliver’, he clapped pajama man’s shoulder, ‘I’ll have to take a rain check on that drink.’

‘It’s fine’, pajama man shrugged.

The fireman turned to look at her, then.

‘Are you okay?’

She nodded.

Then, he narrowed his eyes, looking at her bag.

‘The building was on fire, and you delayed your escape for a laptop?’

‘No’, she all but shrieked, surprised by his harsh tone. ‘No, the laptop wasn’t that important, but my passport’s inside.’

The fireman didn’t look convinced.

‘And it’s not like I delayed it that much’, Felicity felt the need to explain. ‘I just… prioritized. My phone and my passport, not pants or shoes.’

It took a few beats, but then the fireman turned to look back at pajama man.

‘She’s gonna freeze to death, and I know for a fact that your apartment has better heating that our fire house.’

‘Why would I go to your fire house?’, Felicity blinked.

‘Because that’s where we’re taking everybody’, he waved at the neighbors behind them, ‘until we get this sorted out.’

‘Oh. So, he’s not a serial killer?’, she pointed at pajama man.

The fireman snorted, and pajama man pouted.

‘No, Oliver is not a serial killer’, the fireman smiled at Felicity. ‘Promise.’

‘Okay’, Felicity breathed out, turning to look at… Oliver. She was only half embarrassed. ‘I’m sorry, but I could really use those pajama bottoms right about now.’

He shook his head, and gently put a hand on her lower back, guiding her down the street.

○○○

Turns out, Oliver wasn’t a serial killer.

He was sweet, and kind. And funny and sarcastic, which pleased the hell out of Felicity.

He was also from Starling City, the city in which Felicity will be starting her new job in a month. Oliver explained that he was also on a break, and that he got a ticket back home in a couple of weeks.

‘It’s a small world’, he smiled at her, and Felicity couldn’t help but agree.

○○○

Five hours later, as Oliver was slowly taking the pajama off of Felicity, he spoke the words against her skin.

‘You know, I would very much like to continue doing this, now and tomorrow and on and on and after we’re back in Starling, but I’d really like to stop calling you Pajama Hottie Hubba Hubba in my head.’

Felicity laughed so hard, she fell off the bed. But it was okay, because Oliver fell with her and kept on taking off the pajamas.


	58. A stupid amount of love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arjuna_anja asked: _Could you do one where felicity does get shot with an arrow at the mayor meeting. Maybe just that difference could give captain lance a clue that Oliver really isn't killing anyone because he could never hurt felicity._
> 
> Obviously, this is a very old prompt. So I tweaked it to make it fit in this season. Set after 4x15.

Donna was still in the shower when her doorbell rang, and when she yelled at Quentin to answer it, he paused for half a second, still not believing that his life has gotten to this point.

He snapped out of it and went to the door, looking throughthe peep hole.

At first, he frowned, because he was pretty sure Donna wasn’t expecting Felicity. Then, after his brain caught up, his jaw dropped, because he saw Felicity through the peep hole, which meant that she wasn’t in the wheelchair anymore.

He was grinning wildly when he opened the door, and he didn’t even pause before wrapping his arms tightly around Felicity’s shoulders.

It took a couple of seconds, but Quentin did notice that Felicity was shaking.

He detached himself, somewhat, just enough to be able to look at her. She was crying.

‘What happened?’, he asked as softly as he could.

She didn’t answer, not really. But Felicity lifted her left hand, and it took Quentin a couple of blinks to notice that she didn’t have the engagement ring on anymore.

Shit.

‘Oh, sweetheart’, was all he could say. He wrapped his arms around her again and gently guided her into the apartment.

He tried to get her to sit down on the couch, but she shook her head against his chest and tightened her hold on him.

Quentin held her as she cried, and he hated himself for it, but it reminded him of the way he held Laurel when Oliver and Sara died.

Felicity only let go of him when Donna came out of the bathroom, and even if she hasn’t said one word to him, now Felicity started talking. Fast and without breathing, explaining to Donna about Oliver’s son and how she gave back the ring and about how she couldn’t do this anymore.

When she fell silent, she also fell against her mother’s chest, sobbing silently in her arms.

Donna was in shock clearly, but Quentin could tell that she was holding her daughter as tightly as she could.

Their eyes locked over Felicity’s shoulders, and he hated seeing that look on Donna’s face. She looked helpless. Still, he understood it, he’s been in her position before.

He smiled at her as encouragingly as he could, and he pointed to the door, wordlessly telling her goodbye. Donna’s eyes grew wide, and she looked panicked. She mouthed ‘no’ at him and even if there was no sound, Quentin heard the command in it.

So he went to their sides. He kissed the crown of Felicity’s head and he kissed Donna’s temple and told them, as gently as he could, that he was going to make them some tea.

He was almost done with it, when the front door hit the wall.

Damien Darhk was in the apartment, and Quentin did not hesitate to dive for his gun, which he always left by the front door.

Of course, he didn’t get there, because Darhk held out a hand and Quentin couldn’t move or talk.

Donna yelled something, and she got the same treatment.

‘Let them go’, Felicity gritted out, boldly taking a step forward.

‘I am so glad to see you walking again, dear.', the man sneered. 'He must be so proud of you.’

Felicity flinched hard at that, but she didn’t back down.

‘We destroyed your totem. How do you still have magic?’

‘Interesting question’, Darhk grinned. ‘Turns out, I am even more powerful than I thought.’

With that, he flicked a hand and Donna went flying, her back hitting a wall. She fell, unconscious, to the ground, and Quentin still couldn’t move.

Felicity rushed to her mother’s side, expertly getting her pulse.

‘What do you want?’, she said, completely dejected. ‘What more could you possibly want?’

She stood up at that, and she was still crying, but there was disgust in her eyes. Hatred.

‘You have taken so much… _so much_. What more is there to take?’

‘Everything he has ever cared for’, Darhk didn’t hesitate in answering.

Just then, something caught Quentin’s attention. Oliver was coming into the apartment, wearing civilian clothes, no bow and arrows in sight. He walked slowly, very slowly, until he didn’t.

Quentin watched in morbid fascination as Oliver expertly picked up the gun and removed the safety. He was fast, faster than Darhk, apparently, because he barely got to notice that something was up, before Oliver shot him in the arm.

Then, in the stomach. Leg and shoulder.

Oliver didn’t even flinch.

Darhk crumpled to the ground, but somehow, somehow, Quentin still couldn’t move. Oliver growled, a raging sound, and kicked a leg at Darhk’s head.

He fell unconscious, and Quentin fell to the ground, finally able to move and talk.

Oliver paid him no attention, he only had eyes for Felicity.

‘Are you hurt?’, he asked slowly, and she shook his head.

‘Your mom?’, Oliver went on.

‘Unconscious’, Felicity said. ‘She’ll be okay.’

They looked at each other for a few more moments, Felicity still crying and trying not to, but then Oliver turned to him.

‘I called the Police, they’re on their way.’

‘Did anyone see you come in?’, Quentin asked, brain working a mile a minute.

Oliver shook his head.

‘Then go’, Quentin moved, grabbing the gun from his hands. ‘We’ll say it was the Arrow.’

Oliver looked to Felicity again. She nodded, closing her eyes and Oliver left, looking miserable.

Quentin didn’t have time to deal with it.

Δ

Hours later, when the reports were submitted and statements were taken, when Donna’s living room was clean and her front door replaced, when Donna was asleep, painkillers in her stream, Quentin couldn’t help himself.

He sat down on the couch next to Felicity, startling her a little, and leveled her with a look.

‘I’m not going to pretend to know what you’re going through’, he started by saying, ‘and I know it’s not any of my business.’

Felicity smiled. ‘But…’, she prompted gently.

‘I spent a lot time resenting Oliver Queen’, he sighed. ‘And an even longer time hating him.’

‘Not recently, though’, Felicity pointed out.

‘No’, he agreed. ‘Not recently. And if I still had any doubt, then tonight proved it.’

She bit on her lower lip and averted her gaze. ‘Proved what?’

‘That Oliver loves you a stupidly high amount.’

Felicity released a shaky breath, before meeting his eyes again.

‘He does. But that doesn’t prevent him for taking stupid decisions.’

‘Well’, Quentin tilted his head. ‘We all know you’re the brains of that operation.’

It startled a laugh out of Felicity, and small as it was, it warmed Quentin’s heard.

‘Are you actually telling me to forgive him?’, Felicity asked, somewhat incredulous.

Quentin shook his head, strongly. ‘Nuh-uh. I am never ever going to give you relationship advice. I am, however, just casually asking you to … you know… not forget that he does love you.’

‘Okay’, she said after a beat, smiling at him. ‘Okay, I won’t.’

‘Good’, he returned the smile, giving her a brief one armed hug before letting her go to sleep.

Δ

It really is unusual, for Felicity to knock on his office door. Yet, a month later, here she is.

‘I was thinking I could take you out to lunch’, she smiles.

Quentin narrows his eyes. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘Nothing’, she smiles sweetly.

It just makes him even more suspicious.

Felicity comes into the office, rolling her eyes all the while, and she doesn’t stop until she’s by his side of the desk, hips leaning against it.

‘You’re dating my mother, you’re working with my fiancé, I’m good friends with both of your daughters. I think I’m allowed to want to get some one on one time with you.’

Quentin’s eyebrows are up high on his forehead, and from all that she said, he just focused on one thing.

And sure enough, the ring is back on Felicity’s finger and there’s a soft smile on her lips.

‘Lunch, huh?’, he raises an eyebrow.

It gets him a kiss on a cheek and a lengthy discussion about how they were going to go and eat somewhere healthy, because there’s only so much burgers she could hide under her dresses.


	59. The Winter Soldier

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roxymoxy7625 asked: _felicity's father (Damian Darhk) wants felicity on his side, so he kidnaps her, fakes her death, makes her forget the team and trains her to fight. she gets a whole new outfit purple leather (similar to the one batgirl wears in the new comic), wears a red wig and calls herself "oracle". 6 months later the team run into her all dressed up (purple outfit, wig etc...) don't know it's her, she kicks Oliver's, Laurel’s and Thea's butt. After the fight they find out it was her and now they have to make her remember them." So I'm not sure if that's a too long of a prompt or if it's any good, but if you can I would love you to do this prompt (hopefully you can make it a longer one), love yeah_
> 
> I did change your prompt. Cause, I mean, this is basically the plot for The Winter Soldier. HERE COME THE FEELS.  
> (4x15 aired like yesterday and I’m just going to ignore it mkey?)

On the third anniversary of Felicity’s death, Oliver didn’t put on the hood. Just like the years before, he stayed at home while the rest of his team took care of the city.

He couldn’t bare it. He could barely bare it on a normal basis, but today, being the Arrow was impossible.

Being Oliver Queen was impossible.

Being anything beyond a shell of a man was impossible.

He still sees her fall. He still hears her scream his name, as an invisible weight pulls her to the bottom of the cliff. He still sees Darhk move his hand and Felicity with it.

She wasn’t even supposed to be there. Oliver was the only one supposed to go to Central City and help Barry. But she insisted on joining him.

And Darhk followed them, onto the train. He incapacitated Oliver and he threw Felicity out the window, just as they were passing the highest parts of the mountains.

Oliver has lost a lot of people in his life.

Nothing has ever compared with the feeling of loosing Felicity.

He would have followed her off the cliff, if Barry hadn’t showed up and stopped him.

Their friends were the only reason Oliver was still walking this Earth. It was only because of them that Oliver was able to keep on breathing and keep on fighting.

They didn’t find a body, but even with that, Oliver never really had hoped to get her back. The fall was too deep, the terrain was too rocky, the night was too cold. She hadn’t survived.

They never even managed to catch Darhk. Their tried, they always kept trying, but the man moved too fast and too under the radar.

It was always harder, on the day of her death. Because this was the day when Oliver couldn’t keep the memories at bay. This was the day in which Oliver remembered everything.

From the first time he saw her, to the last. From Lawton’s bullet ridden laptop, to the terror in her eyes as she got closer to the valley.

All the kisses, all the hugs, all the nights spent between the sheets.

All the bruises and scrapes, the blood and broken bones.

The horror in her eyes when the doctors told her she wouldn’t walk anymore. The joy in them when she stood on her own two feet again.

His mother’s ring on her finger. Her confident step as she walked down the aisle in the white dress.

Oliver had no purpose to live anymore. Not without Felicity by his side.

But he owed it to her. It’s what she would have wanted him to do.

So Oliver kept on living, and he kept on fighting.

→○←

‘Soldier’, Darhk smiled. ‘Good morning. You have orders.’

‘Yes, sir’, the Winter Soldier stood taller.

→○←

He didn’t sleep that night, so he was wide awake come 6 AM, when Digg texted him to get to the lair.

There was a new player in town, apparently. His team had a run-in with her.

Apparently, she was trying to steal something from the Palmer Tech vault. Curtis was still there, because even if he was CEO now, he was still a workaholic, and he called Digg.

This woman had a purple suit with gold accents (which was terrible for stealth, Oliver thought), her hair was bright red and let loose (which, again, awful during combat), the lower half of her face was covered with a mask (Oliver couldn’t think of any tactical advantage it gave her) and her eyes were covered by a pair of goggles.

She also had a prosthetic arm. It was painted gold, of course, and apparently, gave her a clear advantage. Because beyond the fact that she was thin and not that tall, she kicked their asses.

Massively.

Oliver was kind of impressed. He was also very angry, because Curtis was freaking out about the amount of prototypes she stole, saying that all of them were easily weaponizable.  

There was no doubt about it, they were going after her.

→○←

The intel was sparse.

She was called The Winter Soldier and over the past two years, she has stolen everything from uranium to furniture. There was no official name, no backstory, nobody was able to find anything.

She just came out of nowhere. Like most heroes and villains do, Oliver didn’t say out loud.

The only valid information they had on her was the fact that she has been in Starling for a month and that until now, she only operated in the cities that Darhk was visiting.

And this is when the problems started.

Because Oliver’s instinct was to go after Darhk, even if he knew he wasn’t able to take him, even if he knew that if they put a stop to the Winter Soldier, it’ll be a blow to Darhk’s offences.

So they went after the Winter Soldier.

→○←

The next day, she targeted a convenience store, and as she ran away, she ran straight into the Arrow, Speedy, The Black Canary and Spartan.

She only stole one small box of something Oliver couldn’t make out, but she dropped it as soon as she saw them.

‘Oh’, the Winter Soldier said, voice distorted. ‘Finally, some fun!’

Oliver shot the arrow he had knocked. She easily dodged it, and the fight started.

He watched in dread as the Winter Soldier used her metal arm to break Thea’s bow clean in half and knock her unconscious. She used only two fingers to rip apart the Canary Cry and with a series of very prices hits, Laurel was down too.

All the while, she kept dodging Oliver’s arrows.

When she engaged Digg, Oliver had enough. He only had one EMP arrow, but thankfully, John saw him knocking it. So while John fought the Winter Soldier, he also made sure her back was to Oliver.

He had a clean shot, and he took it, the arrow knocking itself into the Winter Soldier’s metal arm. It fell limp to the side, and she looked at it for a beat.

Then, without hesitation, she used the same hits she used on Laurel and knocked Digg unconscious. Which was very impressive, Oliver thought, considering Digg was three times her size and her tech advantage was out of commission.

Oliver watched in morbid fascination and dread as the Winter Soldier moved her arm in a circle, once, twice, three times, the piece of tech making more and more noise with each movement. But by the end of it, it seemed like the arm was back in play.

Shit, Oliver thought fleetingly.

She turned around then, staring straight at Oliver.

‘You’re going to regret doing that, pretty boy’, she said slowly, menacingly, and Oliver had but a spare moment to catch his breath, before she attacked.

Oliver kept up, for a while. He took hits, but he gave just as hard back. She did manage to throw his bow away and somehow, to take off his quiver.

He could have taken her out, if it wasn’t for the arm. Not only was it solid metal and hurt like a bitch whenever it collided with Oliver’s body, but it also gave her supernatural levels of strength.

So she got the upper hand. No pun intended, but she got her upper hand wrapped around Oliver’s neck, blocking his air flow.

He tried pushing at the arm with all his force. It didn’t work. After that, he tried pulling on her hair. It made her snort, because the hair came right off, the red wig falling to the ground revealing blonde hair.

‘You’re out of your depth, Arrow’, she said, and Oliver heard the distaste in it. ‘And you’re in my way.’

Oliver was almost out of breath. So with his last strength, he punched the Winter Soldier straight in the nose.

She staggered back, her nose bleeding all over her mask. Her glasses were shattered, and even in the darkness of the night, Oliver could see her blue eyes.

The blood didn’t stop her. When she attacked this time, she wasn’t cocky like before. No, she was angry, clearly, because she let out a battle cry as she charged.

The Winter Soldier's anger cost her, because she was reckless in the fight. When she climbed onto his back and tried to strangle him with her thighs, Oliver managed to grab a hold of her face and pull.

She was swung over Oliver, and she landed in a crouch a couple of feet in front of him. But Oliver had her mask in his hand.

So when the Winter Soldier looked up, Oliver saw her face.

And he froze. He stopped breathing. Because it was impossible. And yet…

‘Felicity?’

The blonde woman before him frowned. ‘Who the hell is Felicity?’

There was no realization in her eyes, no insight, nothing. Just confusion. She looked to the side, briefly, before her eyes returned to Oliver.

Before he could even remember to breathe, she pulled a long knife from the back of her suit and she got ready to throw it. Oliver couldn’t move.

He didn’t need to, because there were police cars, fast approaching, and it made her freeze. She swore under her breath, put the knife back and ran to the other side of the street, picking up the small box she stole.

She threw Oliver one last look, one cold, murderous look, that held the promise of another battle. And she was gone.

All of that, and Oliver still wasn’t able to move. Or think. Or breathe.

→○←

‘Mission report’, Darhk barked.

The Winter Soldier didn’t look at him, she stared to the side, arms curled around herself.

‘Mission report!’, Darhk said more strongly.

When he didn’t get an answer, he slapped the Winter Soldier across the face.

That made her look at him.

‘The man in the hood’, she said slowly, hesitantly. ‘Who was he?’

Darhk swallowed. ‘You’ve met him before on a mission.’

She tilted her head, looking Darhk straight in the eyes. ‘But I knew him.’

Her voice was barely heard, and it cracked over the last word.

Darhk narrowed his eyes, before slapping her again. Turning to the doctors, he ordered them to wipe her.

→○←

‘Are you sure?’, Digg asked for the billionth time, and Oliver was very close to clocking him in the jaw.

‘I know what I saw, John’, he gritted his teeth. ‘I know it’s insane, and impossible and… and it was her. I _know_ it was her.’

‘But how?’, Thea said, ever so softly.

Oliver didn’t have an answer to that. He just knew that tonight, he fought with his wife that has been dead for three years and that wasn’t even the worst thing.

The worst thing was that she didn’t know who he was. She looked at him blankly, like he was just another target.

Felicity never looked at him like that. Like at a stranger. Not even when they were strangers, she was never that cold.

‘You said she didn’t respond to Felicity?’, John asked.

Oliver could only shake his head.

‘What does that mean?’, Thea asked, anguish clear.

All Oliver was able to do was lock eyes with his sister, wordlessly telling her that even if he’s running now, he will be back.

→○←

Digg found him eight hours later, at her grave.

As always, Oliver was sitting on the cold ground, fingers digging into the grass and back against her headstone.

But this time, he wasn’t talking. He usually spoke to her, updated her on everything that happened since the last time he visited.

Now, Oliver was quiet.

John crouched down in front of him and put a comforting, but strong hand on his shoulder.

‘Curtis has something.’

‘What?’, Oliver breathed out.

Digg shook his head. ‘He said it was too horrible to say over the phone.’

By this point, Oliver didn’t feel anything anymore. It wasn’t that his heart was broken in pieces, no, his heart has disappeared altogether.

How much can one person endure, anyway? Because Oliver’s glass spilled when he saw Felicity fall. The only reason he kept on living was because it was what she would have wanted.

And he did it, for her.

For what? Not only is she alive, but she’s working for the man who killed her, she’s been hurt and god knows what else not visible like the arm, and she has no idea who Oliver is.

He felt nothing, because if he let himself feel, he’d jump off the tallest building in Starling City.

→○←

He sat on a chair in Curtis’ laboratory and stared at his shoes, listening.

Curtis managed, somehow, to hack into Darhk’s online cloud, into the files of _Operation Winter Soldier_.

Long story short, Felicity survived the fall. Her arm was sacrificed in order to give her incentive to comply. She didn’t. So the first three months after the fall, there were a lot of doctors and magicians working on making Felicity comply.

They managed, in the end, by wiping her memories completely. Deleting Felicity Smoak.

The next nine months were spent with training her in secret facilities in Russia, manufacturing the perfect metal arm, making her into The Winter Soldier.

From then on, the Winter Soldier was Darhk’s main asset. She followed orders, she stole, she fought, she killed. She did anything Darhk asked of her.

After every mission, they’d wipe her memories again and put her into a medically induced coma, until the next time Darhk needed her.

There was no more Felicity Smoak, Curtis said. The woman Oliver knew and loved didn’t exist anymore. There was no way to bring her back.

Some part of him didn’t believe him. Some small part of Oliver hoped that there was a way, to get his wife back.

But, if Felicity would have seen what she became, what Darhk made her…

‘We’re going after her’, Oliver said strongly. ‘And we’re stopping her.’

‘How?’, John asked.

‘By any means necessary’.

‘There’s more’, Curtis said hesitantly. ‘I… figured out what they’re doing.’

He didn’t continue immediately, and that made Oliver’s stomach turn.

‘Two things’, Curtis started. ‘One, I shouldn’t have been able to hack Darhk. He _allowed_ me to hack him.’

‘So it’s a trap’, John said quickly.

Curtis nodded. ‘And second… I figured out what they’re doing with everything that was stolen. They’re, lord help me, they’re making another earthquake device.’

There was a long silence that followed Curtis’ statement.

‘Find her’, Oliver all but growled.

‘They just need one more thing, and it can be found in only one place in Starling’, Curtis met his eyes.

Oliver took a deep breath. He straightened his shoulders, eyes roaming over his team. He shut down any and every emotion that he might be feeling.

‘Suit up.’

→○←

‘Your orders are to kill the man in the hood.’, Darhk said.

The Winter Soldier nodded. ‘Yes, sir.’

‘Do you know who the man in the hood is?’

She frowned. ‘I read the file.’

‘Good’, Darhk nodded. ‘Kill him.’

→○←

She didn’t come alone.

There was an army of Darhk’s men backing The Winter Soldier up, and it was a wordless decision. Oliver would deal with her, cornering her up on the roof, and his team will deal with the rest.

She wasn’t wearing the wig anymore. Neither the glasses, nor the mask. Now, she wore a look of hatred and determination.

He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t breathe properly, his heart beat was through the roof and he felt tears threatening to fall.

She was his wife, damn it. She was the most important thing in his life. She was the only thing that made him happy.

And now, she was planning to kill him.

‘People are going to die, Felicity’, Oliver said slowly. ‘I can’t let that happen.’

She didn’t say anything. She just looked at him, empty and angry.

‘Please don’t make me do this’, Oliver’s voice broke.

Felicity took a deep breath, and she nodded. There was a small smirk on her lips, and it looked horrible. It looked demented and evil and Oliver felt tears running down his cheeks.

But he had to do this. She would have wanted him to fight for their city.

So Oliver closed his eyes, said a silent apology to his wife, and shot an arrow straight at her chest.

→○←

They fought hard. It was the hardest thing Oliver ever had to do, and not just because of the emotional factor.

She was ruthless, she fought dirty and because of the arm, Oliver felt like he was fighting three Mirakuru soldiers at once.

Not once did she falter. Not once did she hesitate.

Oliver couldn’t keep up with the places that hurt.

He managed to pin her down, somehow, and he dislocated her right shoulder in the process. She screamed them, in pain, and Oliver had to let go.

So that gave her the opportunity to get up on her feet again, and she would have attacked, but she didn’t get a chance, because a helicopter collapsed on the roof.

Oliver had no idea what happened, but suddenly he was surrounded by pieces of metal and debris.

When he managed to gather himself, he saw that Felicity was pinned down under a big chunk of metal.

For the first time, when their eyes locked, he saw that she was afraid. And that was what made him move, and with every step closer he took, the more panic could be read in her eyes.

It hurt his body, more than anything ever did, but he lifted the bean, just high enough so that she could wiggle out of it.

They were both panting, so many wounds between them. Everything was falling apart, and Oliver could not look away from the blue of her eyes.

‘You know me’, he managed to say.

‘No I don’t!’, she yelled, punching him straight in the jaw with the metal arm.

Oliver went down, but he got back up.

‘Felicity, you’ve known me for 10 years. We’ve been married for 5 of those.’, he spoke with conviction, even if there were tears mixed with blood on his face.

She punched him again. Oliver went down, but he got back up.

‘Your name is Felicity Smoak-Queen.’

‘Shut up!’, she screamed, punching him again.

Oliver got back up, taking off his mask and hood.

‘I’m not going to fight you’, he breathed out. ‘You’re my love.’

She screamed as she tackled him to the ground, half of his body over the edge of the building. She straddled his hips and with her flesh hand, grabbed a hold of his suit.

‘You’re my mission’, she all but spit in his face, as she started punching him with the metal arm.

On and on, she punched him. And Oliver couldn’t do anything. He wouldn’t.

‘Fight back!’, she kept on yelling, and Oliver cried.

‘Then finish it’, he said, catching her off guard. ‘Cause I can’t live in a world where you don’t love me.’

Something flashed in Felicity’s eyes then. Oliver didn’t know if it was recognition, but those words sparked something in her.

How could they not? They were part of the vows Felicity said at their wedding, and they were the most important sentence Oliver has ever heard.

Slowly, so slowly, Felicity’s breath became even more labored. She was crying now, too, and she was letting go of Oliver.

‘I love you’, he managed to mouth, before he felt himself fall backwards.

At least she would be the last person he saw in this life. At least he had that.

Oliver closed his eyes and for the very first time, he welcomed Death with open arms.

→○←

‘Oliver!’, ripped out of her throat as he fell. She never heard his name, but she knew that was it.

She didn’t stop yelling for him, even as she aimed her wrist piece to the next building. The fraction of a second she had to wait for the grappling hook to edge itself in the building felt like a hundred years.

She yelled as she threw herself down after him, doing her best to quicken her fall, and when she reached him, she screamed in pain because of his weight.

But she held on. She held on as they made their way down. He was heavy, so she couldn’t control the landing, ending up sprawled on top of him.

It felt familiar. How could it have felt familiar?

Someone yelled her name. Except it wasn’t her name, she didn’t have a name.

Turning around, she saw his team running to them. The large man with a Spartan mask was the one who called her Felicity.

Spartan? She didn’t know that word, why did she think it?

Under her fingertips, the Arrow’s pulse was weak, but steady.

She ran out of there.

→○←

Oliver woke up in a hospital room.

Oliver woke up, which meant that somehow, he wasn’t dead.

‘I killed Darhk’, Thea’s voice came from his right, and when he turned his head, he saw that she looked terrible.

‘He was there, just… watching. I shot an arrow through his head.’, Thea didn’t show signs of regret. ‘And another three when I was close. Just to be sure.’

Oliver’s throat felt dry, but he pushed himself to say Felicity’s name.

Thea closed her eyes.

‘She saved you and ran.’

Oliver started crying.

→○←

Three weeks later, she finds him.

Felicity just shows up in the lair.

She looks horrible, in dirty clothes and a glove over her left hand.

‘I don’t remember’, she says, slowly, eyes not moving from Oliver, not even when Digg and Laurel point guns at her.

‘But you did’, Oliver blinks. ‘You remembered something, and you saved me.’

‘I don’t remember everything’, her voice breaks. ‘It’s coming back in pieces.’

‘But it’s coming back?’, Oliver steps closer to her. She doesn’t flinch and she doesn’t move away.

She’s crying, but she’s looking up at him.

‘Help’, she whispers. ‘Please, Oliver, help.’

She breaks down completely then, but it’s okay, because Oliver is there to catch her. He gathers her in his arms and lowers them to the ground, holding onto her tightly.

It’s a first step into the right direction.

She’s alive, and she’s in his arms. They’ll fight everything else together.


	60. In a land of myth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> anon asked: _It's been three years and I really miss Merlin and I love your stories sooo much soo I was thinking that maybe you could do an Olicity/Merlin AU (?)._
> 
> No, you can’t get a Merlin AU because it still hurts goddamnit. But you’re getting a story set in the universe. Ish. Iiiiish. I made the magic a bit more… fun. And everybody knows it exists O:)

In a land of myth and a time of magic, the destiny of a great kingdom rests on the shoulders of a young woman. Her name is Felicity and Oliver really thinks she’s not fit for the job.

Δ

He’s met wizards, during his life. Oliver has been attending his father’s meetings and his mother’s balls since he was 8. He was obligated, because he knew he will be king one day.

And now he was, and his parents were dead, but he knew all he needed to rule over his kingdom. He wasn’t the best at dealing with the people, but he was exquisite in combat and battle strategy. He was also the best in the realm with a bow and arrow.

He has fought many battles, side by side his knights, and he has seen a lot of things. So Oliver has met wizard before.

And this… was nothing like any of them.

Δ

Truth be told, Oliver didn’t think he needed a wizard in his Council. But the Council thought so. And Oliver’s knights thought so.

So Oliver caved, and allowed them to start looking for someone.

It took a couple of months, but they swore that they have found what Oliver needed. This wizard was very powerful, courageous in battle, brave to think outside of normality if the situation needed it. And they thought that this wizard will be a good match to Oliver’s personality, ideals and beliefs.

That sounded great to Oliver’s ears. Absolutely marvelous.

But they forgot to tell him one tiny detail.

There was no wizard.

The magic wielder was a woman.

Δ

She was a little thing.

Thin, but with some muscles on her bones. Her hair was long and blonde, but it wasn’t braided up in a torturous, complicated bun like most the women wore. No, she had it tied up in a simple tail, the ends of it bouncing around when she walked.

Her eyes were bright blue and she looked like she could not stop smiling and grinning.

She was a beautiful woman, the traitorous part of Oliver’s mind supplied, but it was hard to think of her as a real woman.

Because she was wearing black pants that were loose on her, sturdy leather boots similar to the ones Oliver’s knights wore in battle. She had a sleeveless shirt on, a muted red, that wasn’t like anything Oliver has ever seen. It was too tight to be a man’s shirt, but it wasn’t anything that he ever saw on another woman, not a corset or sleep wear.

It was clear that she had sown her own clothes, but that wasn’t the thing that disturbed Oliver.

It was the marks.

She was covered in marks, weird runes and letters and signs that Oliver didn’t understand. He could see them on her fingers, and on her neck, clearly going down under the collar of her shirt. Her arms were also fully marked, and these also went under her clothes.

They were tattoos, Oliver’s mind supplied. He read somewhere, about people marking themselves with ink, pushed under the skin. He had no doubt that they were magical.

She introduced herself as Felicity Smoak.

‘It will be a pleasure working by your side, my king’, she did a small bow. ‘Thank you for the opportunity.’

‘Don’t thank me’, he said strongly, as a king should. ‘This is not set in stone yet, my lady. Over the next days, you have to prove yourself worthy of –‘

‘You?’, she interrupted, raising an eyebrow. Her expression instantly turned cold.

Oliver glared, a bit, but didn’t address how rude interrupting him has been.

‘There is a certain strength needed to fight side by side a king and his men. While my Council has assured me of your capabilities, I need to witness them myself. So do my men.’

‘Of course’, she nodded. ‘But it’s not all that, is it?’

It was his turn to raise an eyebrow.

‘You have to see that your men are comfortable working with a woman’, she said, emotionless. ‘And if my… way of being fits into your group.’

‘That would be preferable’, Oliver admitted. ‘My knights are my friends.’

Her cold look turned a bit softer, and she smiled.

‘That’s very good, my lord. I do hope to be able to achieve that as well.’

When Oliver didn’t say anything else, she shook her shoulders and opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by one of her marks glowing.

Bright pink.

Oliver startled, she didn’t. She looked at the sign on her arm, ran a finger over it and it stopped glowing.

When she looked up, there was a frown on her face.

‘You’re tired, my lord. It’s late, you should get some rest.’

He startled at that, taking a step backwards. It made her smirk.

‘Word of advice?’, she said in a lowered voice. ‘Never forget I’m magic.’

Oh, Oliver thought. This feels like trouble.

Δ

Oliver led a large army of knights, but the ones he called _his_ knights, his closest circle of friends, they were just ten of them. Tommy and John were his best friends, but he trusted the rest of them with his life.

The bond was forged in battle and cemented in the training ring they spent hours in every day.

Felicity turned up bright and early, wearing similar clothes as the day before, but her hair was messily piled on top of her head. To not get in the way, Oliver’s mind supplied.

The knights were all skeptical, especially when she said things like ‘I am begging you to not call me a lady, I’m anything but. Felicity will do just well.’, or ‘That is one big sword, oh my lord, doesn’t your shoulder hurt … forever?', or the one that made them all pause: ‘You all are very pleasant looking, I do hope you have nice ladies lining up to fight for your hand in marriage.’

Oliver’s men weren’t idle either. They asked her how she got her powers – from her mother, who was also a powerful sorceress; how did she learn to use them – from her mother at first, then with a series of other wizards; why did she come to their kingdom – she had a feeling and those are very important in the world of magic; what are the marks – ways to channel her magic; why does she wear pants – they’re comfortable, whereas dresses and corset are evil, _seriously you try and fight in one of those thing, you’d be dead in three seconds._

‘So, my lord’, she turned to Oliver when there was a lull in the conversation, ‘am I fighting you?’

Oliver laughed out loud at that.

‘Barry’, he said. ‘You’ll be fighting Barry, to begin with.’

Barry was the fastest of them all, and Oliver thought his lanky body would be beneficial for Felicity’s own.

Felicity kept smiling, as they set up on opposite ends of the training ring. She eyed Barry’s sword with interest and straightened her shoulders, promising to not hurt Barry too much.

Everyone laughed at that, except for Felicity.

Barry offered her the first attack, but she politely declined.

When Barry charged at her, Felicity didn’t move. She smiled excitedly and waited until Barry’s sword was two inches from her neck. One of the marks on her neck glowed then, a bright flash of pink, and Barry was thrown ten feet away from Felicity, groaning, sprawled down on his back.

Felicity moved to his side faster than the rest of them. She apologized, briefly, before putting a hand on Barry’s forehead. Another one of her marks glowed then, and Barry sighed in relief, explaining that she took his pain away.

John was next, having volunteered. Felicity struggled with him, briefly, because she didn’t attack before John had his hands around her. But that was her intention, Oliver thought, because Felicity proceeded to prove that she was just as good when her attacker got the jump on her.

Diggle was a lot stronger than her, physically, it wasn’t a problem for him to incapacitate Felicity and push her to the ground, unable to move.

But she didn’t need to. This time, Oliver didn’t see any mark glowing, it must have been under her clothes, but he saw, clearly, Digg frowning and gasping and slowly but surely losing his composure. He fell away from Felicity, clutching at his head and screaming in pain.

Once again, Felicity apologized.

Roy was next, on Oliver’s instruction, because he was almost as good with a bow and arrow as he was. But Roy was absolutely no match for Felicity, every arrow he shot ripping itself in two before they got anywhere near her.

Oliver took advantage of the fact that Felicity had her back to him and that she was focused on Roy. He knocked an arrow and aimed carefully, not to hit her, but to have the arrow zoom past her close enough to frighten her.

It didn’t. Felicity stopped the arrow with her bare hands, only turning to look behind her after that.

‘Good, my lord’, she smirked at Oliver.

He resisted the urge to pout.

‘Are you any good in a fight? Without using your magic?’

She nodded. ‘I’m decent enough.’

Oliver instructed Tommy to fight her, no magic allowed. His best friend was grinning like an idiot, making Felicity giggle. But she did pick up a sword and adopted a proper stance.

She wasn’t as good as Tommy, but as she said, she was decent enough. It was astonishing, really, that a woman could fight that well. She didn’t beat Tommy, but he didn’t beat her either. Oliver knew he wasn’t trying too hard, but still, it was an accomplishment on her part.

Oliver would have been lying if he said he wasn’t impressed.

‘One last question’, Cisco asked. ‘Can you cook?’

She suddenly looked terrified and she shook her head forcefully. ‘Not even to save my life.’

Cisco opened his mouth to say something else, but she cut him off, her expression turning angry.

‘I shouldn’t be forced to cook for you either way! I’m here to fight alongside you, not feed you!’

Oliver smirked at the cowered expression Cisco had.

‘Understood, my lady.’, he said meekly, flinching afterwards. ‘I mean Felicity.’

With that, she turned to look at Oliver.

‘Well, my king. Am I in?’

Oliver looked to his knights. ‘It’s not just my call. All in favor?’

Each and every one of them lifted a hand. Barry and Tommy lifted both.

‘Very well’, Oliver nodded, turning back to look at Felicity and, for the first time, smile at her.

‘Welcome to the kingdom, Lady Smoak. And welcome to my team.’

She grinned. ‘Please don’t call me that. At least when we’re… not in public.’

He raised an eyebrow. ‘So you get to call me king and lord, but I cannot return the favor?’

‘I can call you Oliver, if that’ll make you feel better.’

Nobody spoke to the king like that. It took his knights years to feel comfortable to call him by his name, not by his title. And here she comes, undermining him and being rude on day two.

And he liked it.

Felicity Smoak was definitely trouble.

Δ

They celebrated that evening. There was a formal dinner with the Council, which Felicity actually wore a dress to. It wasn’t spectacular, it was the type of dress the ladies in the kitchen wore, and Oliver noticed that she had her pants underneath.

She was still massively underdressed for a dinner at court, and everybody stared judgmentally at her, but that died out pretty soon after Oliver told the tail of Felicity single handedly taking out three of his best men.

From that, the discussion went on to her powers and experience and by the end of dinner, everybody acted more normally towards her.

‘How come you didn’t make them call you Felicity?’, Oliver asked her on their way out to meet with the knights.

She threw him a look. ‘As I said, my lord, when we are in public there are customs that need to be respected. Now however, that’s over.’

They were in front of the door to her quarters, and she wordlessly dragged him inside.

She didn’t close the door behind them, and Oliver was praying that nobody else would roam the hallway, because this was very improper.

‘Help me unfasten my dress, please?’

Oh lord, Oliver really hoped nobody passed by.

He did what she asked, though, but it would be a lie saying he was comfortable doing it. And he sighed in relief when he noticed that Felicity was indeed wearing her normal clothes under her dress.

She tossed the thing on the bed, let her hair loose, thanked him, and urged him on.

They drank with the knights well into the night, and Oliver was once again surprised. Not only by how Felicity managed to hold her drinks, even against a table of men, but also by how well she fit in.

Felicity joked with them, teased them, she laughed with them even when they were making fun of her. But she also remembered all their names and asked then things, about their life outside of the battle field.

Oliver could just sit back and watch. Tommy met his eyes at one point, and he raised an eyebrow. Oliver shrugged in response, and Tommy grinned at him, before asking Felicity of suitors.

Oh, yes. Felicity was definitely trouble and Oliver was on the way to being in trouble.

Δ

She slipped easily in her role. Felicity trained with them every day, switching between using her powers and using a sword. She became their friend, and it was clear to Oliver, that all of his men started caring for Felicity.

But it wasn’t just that.

Every other day, Felicity would be found in the kitchen. She didn’t know how to cook, but she helped the servants there. Washing plates or cutting up vegetables. They kept telling her that she shouldn’t, it wasn’t her job, but Felicity kept on saying that she enjoyed the work.

She didn’t accept a servant, either. She washed her own clothes, cleaned her quarters, set up her own baths.

Sometimes, Felicity felt like the mother of the group. That particular mark on her arm, that glowed when someone close to her was tired, she got a lot of use out of it. At first, the men ignored her, but Felicity managed to find a way to make each and every one of them listen.

Oliver was angry at first, when she’d yell at him to just go to bed, already! But one night, she cornered him and explained that he was a role model, that the knights looked up to him. That he needed to take care of himself, so that his knights would follow his lead. And how could he expect them to listen to Oliver, if he looked like he was a dead man walking? After that talk, Oliver tried his best to not run himself exhausted.

Oliver’s sister confided in him, that she and Felicity have been doing things that would have made their parents furious. They never approved of Thea’s interest in healing, so they forbid her to even enter the healer’s quarters. Now, Felicity was teaching her the healing capabilities of different plants, and they both talked to the healer, once a week, slowly learning the basics.

She was a great person, Felicity.

Oliver was glad to have her by his side, thankful for her friendship.

Δ

He couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment he fell in love with Felicity.

Δ

Maybe it was the first time she risked her life for him.

There was a Council meeting, to discuss a treaty with another kingdom, and Felicity was in attendance, because she has spent time there.

When the ghost appeared in the middle of the table, Oliver did three things. He yelped, he reached for his sword and he moved to shield Felicity.

When the ghost appeared in the middle of the table, Felicity did two things. She said an angry ‘NO’, and placed herself in front of Oliver.

When the ghost appeared in the middle of the table, it was a horrible sight. Oliver could see through it, and it glowed a sickly blue color, there was water dripping out of its long black hair and it had an evil smile on its face.

The ghost lifted a hand and before Oliver knew what was happening, there was… something coming out of its hand, a ray of power, glowing blue, that hit Felicity straight in the chest.

She stumbled back, into Oliver’s chest, and he screamed her name, wrapping his arms around her to keep her from falling down.

The ghost laughed.

Felicity growled, low in her throat, a very angry sound, and pushed Oliver’s hands away. Then she got both of her hands up, various marks glowing on her skin, and there was a similar ray of power pouring out of her hands, the same pink as her marks.

It hit the ghost straight in its chest and it evaporated.

There was silence in the room, everybody staring in shock and awe at Felicity.

She was shaking, Oliver noticed, breathing hard. Her marks were still glowing and when he said her name, she didn’t answer.

So Oliver stepped in front of her, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. Her skin was freezing.

‘I’ll be alright’, she whispered. ‘I just need sleep.’

‘Okay’, he said slowly. ‘Let’s take you to your quarters. Can you walk?’

She shook her head, blinking rapidly. ‘Not really.’

Oliver didn’t hesitate in picking her up and carrying her to bed.

Δ

Maybe Oliver fell in love with Felicity the first time they fought side by side.

There was a group of thieves who were tormenting one of the villages at the outskirts of the kingdom. The Council was furious, but Oliver only took his Knights to settle the issue.

Well, his Knights and Felicity.

The group was almost triple in size than the knights, but that didn’t stop them from fighting. During the battle, Oliver found himself at Felicity’s side.

He didn’t really know if he did it because he wanted to protect her, or if she did it because she wanted to protect him, but they fought side by side.

It was better than it was in training, surprisingly so. But because they have trained together, they knew each other’s fighting style. They knew how the other person reacted, what was the move they wanted to do and they fought accordingly.

The only moment they faltered was at the end.

Oliver didn’t see the last thief left standing, and Felicity saw him too late. All she was able to do was slam herself into Oliver’s body, and it surprised him, so they both went down, just in time to see John dealing with the thief.

They were both panting hard after the fight, and it took a couple of seconds for either of them to acknowledge the fact that maybe they needed to move, because Felicity was sprawled on top of Oliver and his hands were on her body, lower than her waist.

Δ

Maybe Oliver fell in love with Felicity the first time he saw her using magic outside of the battle field or training circle.

It wasn’t a particular day, or a particular night. They were all around the dinner table, Oliver and his knights.

There was a goblet in front of Felicity, with spring flowers in it. Sometimes, the ladies in the kitchen did this for her.

The bouquet would have been beautiful, bright and colorful, but the flowers were starting to wither. Without pausing in telling a tale of a passed battle, Felicity moved a hand around the bouquet, a small mark glowing pink on her little finger, and before Oliver’s eyes, the flowers were reborn.

Everybody fell silent, and she giggled.

Oliver doesn’t think he has ever seen something more beautiful.

Δ

Maybe Oliver fell in love with Felicity the first time he saw her attend a ball.

It was Thea’s birthday, and the whole kingdom was celebrating. The hall was filled with people, drinking and dancing, wearing their best clothes and Thea seemed to be enjoying herself.

Oliver didn’t recognize Felicity, at first. She looked so different.

She was wearing a dress, a proper dress, with a corset and a farthingale. The color was the brightest pink Oliver has ever seen, and the dress wrapped around her body perfectly.

Her hair was pinned up, in something easily comparable to the fashion of the days, but there were pieces left out of the bun, curs framing her face.

Felicity looked like an angel and she took Oliver’s breath away.

She also refused to dance with him, saying that it’ll create a precedent and she really didn’t want to dance with anybody else.

Δ

Maybe Oliver fell in love with Felicity when she almost died.

They encountered a warlock during a battle, and he took Felicity by surprise, blasting a spell into her chest. She fell unconscious instantly, and Oliver’s arrow hit the warlock in the eye before Felicity hit the ground.

She was unconscious for three days and four nights, and Oliver did not leave her side.

The door to Felicity’s quarters was always open, and Oliver was always sitting on a chair next to the bed in which she lay. There was always a plate of food on the table for him, and periodically, one of the ladies from the kitchen came and kicked Oliver out, so that they could wash and change Felicity's clothes.

The doctor came every other hour, but he couldn’t do anything, not knowing magic. One of the knights stopped by every now and then as well, keeping Oliver silent company.

When Felicity woke up, she gasped and sat up straight in bed, looking at Oliver with wide eyes.

‘You’re alive?’, she asked, desperately, and Oliver couldn’t help it, he laughed, completely exhausted and relieved.

‘I should ask you the same question’, he finally said. ‘You’ve been asleep for three days.’

Felicity blinked. ‘It was the spell, I’m fine now.’

Oliver breathed out. ‘Allow me a little more time to make sure of that.’

She frowned, pointedly looking at the glowing mark on her arm. Oliver was painfully familiar with it by now.

‘You haven’t slept, have you?’, Felicity asked, something close to fondness in her voice.

Oliver grabbed a hold of her hand and he gave it a soft squeeze.

‘I am so glad you’re alright.’

She smiled at that, lifting up their joined hands so that she could kiss his.

Later on, Oliver would find out that this was the moment the entire court realized that he was in love with Felicity.

Δ

Maybe Oliver realized he was in love with Felicity the first time they danced.

She has been by his side for three years and it was Oliver’s birthday. It was the only reason why she accepted the dance, and once again, she surprised him by being an excellent dancer.

Oliver can’t really say much about that dance, he doesn’t remember it well. He just remembers Felicity’s laugh, her red dress wrapping around their feet.

Δ

Oliver doesn’t know when he fell in love with Felicity, but he does know when it became too much, and he had to tell her.

Δ

He noticed that there was a new servant in the castle, of course he did. She was always there when Oliver had dinner with his knights.

What Oliver didn’t notice was the hate filled way she looked at Felicity.

He went to bed one night and woke up at the edge of a lake, Felicity still sleeping next to him. After waking her up, they deduced that it had to be the work of magic, because neither of them remembered getting there.

Oliver had no weapons, even if he was wearing his armor. What was most alarming was that Felicity wasn’t able to do any sort of magic. That made her panic, and he tried to calm her, he really did, but it was to no avail.

When the new servant appeared, she only looked like that for a few seconds, before shapeshifting into another person, another woman.

The sight of her made Felicity turn white.

‘I killed you once’, she said strongly, ‘I’ll kill you again.’

The other woman laughed.

‘Kill me and I won’t call back the hold of dragons I have sent to your kingdom.’

Oliver did not say one word, as the women exchanged harsh words. It was clear to him, that this was an enemy from Felicity’s past and he didn’t understand why she took him too. He was glad for it, at least Felicity wasn't defenseless  _and_ alone, but he didn't understand it.

The explanation came when the other sorceress waved a hand and a table appeared, with two chairs opposites each other. There were two goblets, each of them half filled with a liquid that looked like wine.

‘You played with me’, the wizard told Felicity, ‘so I will play with you. You have my word that I will call back my dragons, if you drink.’

‘What’s in the goblets?’, Felicity asked slowly.

‘Poison’, the other woman smiled. ‘In one of the goblets. The other one is just wine. Of course, I won’t tell you which is which.’

‘Why?’, Oliver said something for the first time.

‘Either you die’, the wizard told him, ‘and Felicity will be left behind in pain, or she dies. Either way, I win.’

Oliver shared a long look with Felicity. There was no escape, they were defenseless, there was nothing they could do. They had to drink.

If Oliver was to die, then… that would be alright. Thea would be queen, and she was more than capable, she has grown a lot since their parent’s deaths. His knights would mourn, but they all have known death before. Felicity would mourn as well, but she was the strongest woman he has ever met.

But if Felicity died… Oliver gasped, unable to finish that thought.

She took his hand, smiling softly. ‘It’s alright.’

‘It’s not’, he rasped out. ‘I can’t… I can’t let you die, Felicity.’

Her mouth opened in shock. ‘You are the one who can’t die, Oliver’, she breathed out slowly. ‘You’re the king.’

He gripped her hand tighter, his voice lowering on his own accord. ‘I won’t be able to live without you by my side.’

She frowned, and opened her mouth to say something, but Oliver interrupted her, saying something he knew was true, has been for a long time, even if he didn’t realize it.

‘I love you.’

Felicity went thought a lot of emotions, all readable on her face. Disbelief, anger, fondness, exasperation, amusement.

But in the end, she didn’t say anything. Instead, she kissed him.

Oliver answered instantly, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist, taking comfort in everything that was Felicity Smoak.

When they separated, he … he wasn’t fast enough.

Felicity drank a goblet and when Oliver looked, the other one was empty. She must have combined both of them as they were kissing. Brilliant, but a death sentence. 

He was angry at her, but also devastated, because that meant-

‘I hope’, Felicity smirked at him, ‘that you didn’t say that just because you thought one of us was dying.’

Oliver didn’t understand.

But then, Felicity turned to the other woman and Oliver saw several of her marks glow. Even if she said she couldn’t do magic.

The sorceress fought Felicity, at least she tried. Her dark green power ray met Felicity’s pink one and for several long, so long minutes, they both didn’t even move as their powers fought. Oliver knew better than to interfere, that was one of the first thing Felicity insisted on during training: if she's fighting someone, she's fighting alone.

After a while, the other woman screamed, clearly in pain, and it only made Felicity smirk and straighten her back. It didn’t take long for the evil sorceress to disappear in a burst of green ash.

Felicity was breathing heavily by the end of it and Oliver was staring, shocked and awed, still confused and so anxious. He barely noticed the air around them shimmering, barely realized their surroundings turning into the familiar forest of his kingdom.

When Felicity turned to look at him, she was blushing, but smiling.

‘I’m sorry I lied’, she said, voice subdued. ‘I felt the spell that she did, the one that was supposed to stop my magic. But I’m stronger, it didn’t work. I just thought it’d be a good tactical advantage.’

‘And the poison?’, Oliver managed to find his voice.

Felicity grinned, pointed to a certain spot on her leg. ‘The mark against that is hidden.'

He breathed out, shakily lowering himself to the ground. Oliver was suddenly exhausted, and his heart was beating like a devil in his chest.

‘Felicity’, he forced himself to look her in the eyes, ’you’re remarkable.’

She blushed harder. ‘And you love me?’

Oliver nodded. ‘I do. I have for a while now. I… I’m sorry I didn’t say anything sooner.’

‘That’s alright’, she smiled, hesitatingly sitting down on the forest ground, shoulder almost brushing Oliver’s. ‘Thankfully, you have enough time to make it up to me.’

He kissed her again, because they were alive, because he loved her, because he was so proud of her.

Δ

‘My king’, John all but growled an hour later, ‘you’ve been missing for half a day. You could’ve easily had your wicked way with Felicity back at the castle.’

‘Hey!’, Felicity yelped before Oliver could respond. ‘I’m still wearing clothes!’

‘Unfortunately’, Oliver said, making everybody roll their eyes.

Δ

As it came to happen, Oliver married one of his knights, the most powerful sorceress in the whole kingdom, the beautiful Queen Felicity, who still scared everybody off by wearing pants.


	61. Welcome to Storybrooke

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Bitch_In_Heels](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Bitch_In_Heels/pseuds/Bitch_In_Heels) asked: _Would you be able to write a cross over shot, with once upon a time. Maybe emma and felicity were step sister at one point of if they were twins and it was never part of the story or something. But somehow team arrow ends up in story broke._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry I haven't updated in a while. I had some family over and then I got sick and I'm full of excuses.

When Emma calls, desperate and borderline crying over the phone, begging for help, Felicity doesn’t hesitate.

And when she doesn’t, Oliver doesn’t either. It’s the two of them and Digg, because someone still needed to stay and take care of their city, and Laurel and Thea were happy to stay behind.

The drive to Storybrooke only took a couple of hours, time which was spent mostly silent.

Oliver asked who Emma was, which was a fair question, so Felicity broke her silence and answered. Quickly and cynically.

Emma Swan was the oldest friend Felicity had. They’ve met in school when they were 10, and Emma had to move after six months. She was in foster care, moved around a whole lot, but they kept in touch, saw each other when they were close enough or had bus money to spare.

She was the strongest woman Felicity has ever met, and that was saying something about Emma, considering the superheroes Felicity was surrounded with. In the past months, Emma has finally found something good in Storybrooke, she found her parents, her son, she had a job, she had friends, a stable boyfriend.

And Felicity has never witness Emma being this desperate, no matter how bad the foster family treated her, no matter the insults of slaps or bad conditions she was forced to live in.

Digg points out that Felicity should have asked for details about what was happening, so that they won’t go in blind, and maybe an explanation as to how Emma knew Oliver was the Green Arrow and that Felicity worked with him. He’s right, but Felicity doesn’t care. Until her eyes will land upon Emma, she doesn’t care.

**//STORYBROOKE//**

Emma is waiting for them just outside of the _Welcome to Storybrooke_ sign. She’s leaning against a yellow VW Beetle, she looks like she hasn’t slept in a year, her eyes are red from crying, and she is with a guy about her age, gorgeous blue eyes and blonde hair.

Felicity ignores him completely, as she wraps her hands around Emma for the first time in years.

‘It’s a long story’, are the first words that Emma says after she pulls away from the hug. ‘And I’ll tell you all of it, but we need to get to town. It’s safer in there.’

Felicity doesn’t say anything, neither do John or Oliver.

‘You can’t get in’, Emma smiled at her. ‘The city is protected by a spell. I have to do one so that you’ll be allowed to enter.’

Felicity frowns. Digg looks at Emma like she’s insane, Oliver tilts his head curiously.

Then Emma takes a deep breath, closes her eyes and strengthens her shoulders, her hands coming up in front of her.

Felicity yelps when a white flash comes out of Emma’s palms and dives straight into her chest. She didn’t feel anything, but-

Digg has Emma in a chokehold, and the blonde guy she was with has a gun pointed at John’s temple.

Oliver is taking off his shirt, which is the weirdest thing in this picture, until Felicity sees the Chinese logograms tattooed on his side glowing orange.

‘Magic’, he says evenly, looking at Emma. ‘You have magic.’

She nods. ‘This whole town is magic.’

It takes a beat, before Oliver tells John to stand down.

‘You can walk away’, he tells Digg, clearly surprising him. ‘This is… What we saw when Constantine visited was only a small part of it. If you don’t think you can handle it, then walk away.’ Oliver smiles, slightly. ‘No judgment attached.’

Digg gets his hands off Emma and the blonde guy lowers his gun.

‘What the heck?’, Felicity finally finds her voice, incredulity clear.

Emma smiles at her, grabs a hold of her hand.

‘Felicity, I’d like you to meet my dad’, she points to the blonde guy who really doesn’t look that old.

‘In the world he comes from, he’s Prince Charming.’

‘Here I’m just David’, the guy smiles at Felicity easily. ‘Nice to meet you, I’ve heard a lot about you, Felicity.’

She blinks. Twice. ‘Wait’, she looks back to Emma. ‘Is your mom Snow White?’

She laughs it off, the idea ridiculous. But Emma doesn’t laugh. She nods, slowly.

‘Oh hell no’, Digg says.

‘I’ve seen weirder things’, Oliver shrugs.

‘He took Henry’, Emma says, her voice breaking. ‘He took my son and I… I need more help than I’ve got.’

‘We’ll help’, Oliver doesn’t hesitate. ‘We have a particular skill set.’

David snorts. ‘Robin Hood’s excited to meet you.’

Oliver falters at that, as Digg … makes a weird chocked-off noise.

Felicity rethinks her entire existence and wordlessly heads back to the car. Her boys follow, and they follow the yellow Beetle into the world of magic.

**//STORYBROOKE//**

Felicity is overwhelmed. Digg is worse.

Oliver just seems curious and anxious to get to the point of the story where it explains who took Henry.

But Felicity… she can’t.

She’s in a diner owned by Red Riding Hood’s Grandmother, her best friends’ parents are Snow White and Prince Charming. The Mayor is the Evil Queen who turned good somewhere along the way, she’s dating Robin Hood, she keeps calling Henry her son and Emma’s fine with that, Rumpelstiltskin seems reluctant to be there, Captain Hook looks at Emma with hearts in his eyes, and Felicity just… can’t.

‘I’m really sorry for… everything’, Emma says at some point, catching back Felicity’s attention. ‘But it’s Henry.’

‘Do you know who has him?’, Oliver asks, Arrow voice on.

Emma nods, but it’s Robin Hood that talks.

‘He used to be a good man, one of my … group.’

‘The merry men’, Oliver supplies around a barely-there wince, and Robin nods.

‘When we came to Storybrooke, something changed in him. I saw it, but I just thought it was … what we all felt, in a foreign world, out of the woods and into the modern madness. I should have seen it.’

‘That doesn’t matter anymore’, David says with authority, and Felicity sees why he is a Sheriff. ‘What matters now is getting Henry back.’

‘Any idea where he’s being kept?’, Oliver asks.

Emma nods. ‘We did a locator spell.’

‘Would’ve been easier if he had a GPS tracker’, Felicity can’t help but mumble under her breath.

‘Funny you should say that’, Emma says, in a tone that does not imply anything even remotely funny.

‘They’re close by, in the woods, but… It’s not magic, Henry’s not kept there by magic.’

Felicity raises an eyebrow.

‘It’s technology.’, Emma pointedly stares Felicity down. ‘A lot of it, that goes… way over my abilities to forge an ID.

Felicity hums. ‘You know where this place is?’

Emma nods.

‘I’m going to need more information.’

‘I’ll tell you everything but-‘

She’s cut off by Oliver. ‘Maybe it’s best if we’d get a look. Know what we’re dealing with.’

Felicity nods along, and Emma easily relents, saying that Robin and Regina will show them.

‘Suit up’, Oliver says, the words so familiar to Felicity by now.

Robin frowns. ‘We don’t have suits.’

Oliver looks mildly disappointed.

**//STORYBROOKE//**

‘You know what this means?’, Felicity asks, somewhat excited.

Oliver sighs in her ear. ‘We’re finally using your hacking arrow.’, he says, totally dejected.

‘Yes!’, Felicity cackles.

She sees Oliver line up his arrow, the image perfectly clear on her monitor, the HD cameras she just installed in their masks working perfectly.

Of course, Oliver’s aim is perfect, and the arrow connects itself to what is probably an access panel for the entire… facility that Henry is being kept in.

Felicity takes a deep breath, a sip of her coffee and starts typing.

‘Did it work?’, Oliver asks in her ear.

She rolls her eyes, even if her fingers don’t falter.

‘Of course it worked, I made it, Arrow.’

‘So you’re-‘

‘Currently hacking?’, Felicity grins. ‘Sure am. It’s taking a while, though, because this is heavily secured. Not exactly ARGUS levels of security, but close enough.’

‘What’s ARGUS?’, someone asks, and honestly, Felicity forgot she was not in the lair anymore.

‘Classified’, she says, sparing a look to Emma, who was the one who asked. ‘You really don’t want to know.’

She raises an eyebrow. ‘Is it worse than FBI?’

Felicity nods. ‘It’s like… 17 times worse than FBI. Aaaaand I’m in.’

‘Tell me’, Oliver says in her ear.

‘No, you four are most definitely not going in alone’, Felicity says with authority, as Emma nods.

‘Come back here and we’ll plan a proper attack.’

‘Fine’, Oliver says easily. ‘One last question, what do I do with the arrow?’

Felicity grins, and pushes a few buttons.

‘What just happened?’, Digg asks.

‘Did I forget to mention’, Felicity says playfully, ‘that I have the cloaking technology that Vibe developed?’

‘Shouldn’t we take the arrow out?’, Oliver asks.

‘No, what if something changes?’, she counters. ‘I still need to get in. I mean, if the evil guy stumbles upon it and pulls it out, we’ll have to do all this again, but I mean, the chances of that happening are slim. That’s why I made you shoot it from the side.’

‘Understood, Overwatch’, Oliver says, a hint of pride in his voice. ‘On our way back.’

Felicity keeps typing away at her laptop, loosing herself in schematics and security protocols and thinking of possible locations that Henry is being kept in.

‘Overwatch?’, a voice startles her.

It’s Hook, and he’s watching her with an amused twist to his smirk. Emma’s looks is equally playful.

Felicity shrugs. ‘I worked hard for the nickname, I like it and you’re not allowed to say anything bad about it.’

‘Sure’, Hook nods. ‘I’m sure the Green Arrow and Spartan worked really hard on it.’

She rolls her eyes, and ignores him. It’s just as well, cause he starts bickering with Emma.

**//STORYBROOKE//**

After a plan is developed, Felicity is left behind at Granny’s diner with Rumpelstiltskin (who refused to have any involvement in Henry’s rescue) and Belle (which Felicity wanted to be when she grew up), and Granny, of course. Snow White is in a corner of the diner too, feeding her baby and willing him to sleep.

Felicity’s anxious, as she always is when her boys are out working, but even more so, now that Emma and Henry are involved and in danger.

‘They’ll be okay’, Belle says, startling Felicity when she sits down next to her in the booth.

Rumpelstiltskin sits down across from them, grumpily and glaring at Felicity. She ignores him, smiling slightly at Belle.

‘Between them, they have two very powerful witches, two archers who never miss, two soldiers-‘

‘And Captain Hook’, Felicity says, somewhat reverently, still not fully believing she is surrounded by fairtytale characters.

‘Yes’, Belle smiles wider, ‘and Captain Hook. Who loves Henry as if he were his own child.’

Felicity takes a deep breath and nods, wanting to say something, when Emma’s voice comes through the speakers.

‘Is this thing on?’

Felicity snorts. ‘Yes, Emma, it’s on. I can hear you and everybody else can hear you, if they keep their comm. links in. Yes, Robin, I’m looking at you.’

‘I have sensitive ears!’, the man in question says somewhat indignant, making Regina and Emma snicker.

‘But these are quite useful on a quest’, David musses out loud. ‘Why didn’t we think about it before?’

‘Uh’, Emma says, as Felicity rolls her eyes.

‘Guys’, she says sternly. ‘Focus. Get Henry back, then you can think of ways to bribe me to let you keep the comm. links’.

‘We’re three minutes out’, Oliver’s voice comes out clear. ‘Everybody remember the plan?’

There’s a chorus of affirmatives and groans, and even Belle rolls her eyes. But everyone is silent after that, until Oliver says a toned down ‘we’re going in’.

They split up in two groups once Felicity opens the door for them, and it’s easy for her to keep track of them. For one, Oliver and Digg are on different groups and she has a life feed of those cameras, but she also hacked into the facility’s cameras.

So she sees it clearly, when Oliver’s team check out a room and come face to face with the bad guy.

As they start fighting him, Felicity guides the other team to their location, and Robin gets there first, anger clear on his face.

There’s a long discussion, between him and the guy, and it’s filled with hate and anger. Everybody holds back until they lash it out, except for Regina who keeps a hand on Robin’s back. Felicity recognizes the gesture, the simple comfort and support.

But as the two men talk, Emma keeps growing restless, and even Oliver shows signs.

‘Where is Henry?’, Robin finally asks, and the guy laughs.

And laughs.

And laughs.

Felicity knows it’s coming before her boys move.

It’s a move they perfected over the past few weeks, and secretly, Felicity kind of loves it.

It starts with the Arrow knocking a very particular arrow in his bow. He doesn’t shoot it, he just aims it straight at the guy’s chest. Then, as per the script, he does some threatening but of course, nobody ever falls for that.

So Oliver releases the arrow, and as it connects to the guy’s chest, it explodes in a flash of white light (which doesn’t actually have any purpose, except for discombobulating the perp), and in just a second, the guy is wrapped up in shackles (which are more frightening than the ropes Oliver used before) and forcefully pushed to the closest wall, the shackles keeping him pinned there.

Spartan is already waiting by the wall, his gun raised, pointed straight at the guy’s temple. As per usual, Digg then made a slight joke, something along the lines of _you should have answered the question_ , and as their tests have shown, it was a very efficient move, that usually made the bad guys talk.

Sure enough…

‘Neither stairs nor door’, the guy starts saying, voice shaking, ‘one room, one window, no hair, no golden stairs.’

That’s all they’ll manage to get out of the guy, clearly, so Oliver knocks him out as David says they should get him to a holding cell.

Felicity doesn’t need Emma to say anything to realize that she’s heavily distressed, and sure enough, as they come back to Granny’s, Emma is tightly holding onto Hook’s hand and her eyes are red and puffy.

‘So’, Felicity claps her hands, trying her best to smile. ‘Where’s Rapunzel?’

Everybody looks at her like she’s insane.

‘Who?’, Robin asks, slowly.

‘Uh’, Felicity frowns. ‘You guys don’t have a Rapunzel here?’

The people from Storybrooke look at one another for a couple of seconds, but they all end up shaking their heads.

‘Well that’s what we should be looking for’, Felicity says slowly. ‘Cause that’s what he was talking about, about the tower Rapunzel was being kept in.’

‘It makes sense’, Emma finally says, understanding flashing threw her eyes.

‘There’s no Rapunzel, though’, Regina says. ‘Not in Storybrooke.’

‘Do you really know everybody in town?’, Felicity raises an eyebrow in incredulity.

‘Between all of us, yeah’, the mayor shrugs.

‘There certainly isn’t a rapunzel in Storybrooke’, Rumpelstiltskin says, and nobody bothers asking how he knows that.

Felicity frowns, turning to Emma. ‘You said that the town is… protected by some spell?’

The other blonde nods.

‘So it’s probably safe to assume that it’s invisible to any satellite.’

‘No Google Maps.’, Evmma nods again.

‘Let me try the other satellites’, Felicity says, walking back to her laptop, absently aware of Emma asking Oliver what other satellites do they have access to.

Of course, that doesn’t work, but Felicity has an idea.

‘I need a drone.’, she says, turning back to the room.

‘We didn’t bring one’, is Digg swift’s response.

‘I know’, Felicity rolls her eyes, ‘but I still need one.’ She turns to Emma. ‘Is there a toy shop in town? Like…’, she frowns, ‘normal, modern toys, not Gepetto.’

There’s a flash of sadness in Emma’s eyes, but she overcomes it quickly.

‘You want a toy plane?’

‘A decent one, I think’, Felicity shrugs. ‘But anything will do.’

Hook nods, and all but drags Robin out of the diner, ignoring Belle’s pretty incredulous question of ‘It’s the middle of the night, how are you going to get in?’

**//STORYBROOKE//**

The guys bring back two decent enough remote controlled planes, and Felicity doesn’t spend a lot of time hooking them up with the cameras the guys had on their suits.

Oliver’s eyes lit up when they decide he will be in charge of flying one of them, and Digg grins wide when he’s chosen to pilot the second one.

It’s a bit of a hustle, because the planes don’t have as big of a range as the cameras. So it takes a couple of hours, but by noon, Oliver’s camera picks something up, that has Felicity staring.

‘What is it?’, Oliver asks. He can’t see the feed.

‘You wouldn’t believe me if I told you’, Felicity gulps. ‘I got your position, circle back cause… you’re gonna need supplies’.

**//STORYBROOKE//**

The tower Henry was kept in really was from a fairytale. It looked like it was made out of pure gold, and it was about 70 feet high.

Still, it was an easy climb up for Oliver’s grappling arrow, but a tricky shot, which of course, he had no problem to nail.

Henry seemed fine and unhurt, he was sleeping on a plush bet when Oliver broke through the window.

The kid’s reaction was priceless, though.

‘Even Robin Hood doesn’t wear that bad of a Robin Hood costume.’

And then, ‘Wait. I don’t know you, who are you?’

Oliver sighed, and explained.

**//STORYBROOKE//**

Felicity got a big hug and a sincere thank you from Henry, and she loved him already.

They all spent the rest of the day in Granny’s diner, eating good food and drinking coffee, but they decided they weren’t going to spend the night.

Oliver and Digg were still slightly freaked out by the magic, and Felicity wasn’t feeling completely comfortable either. Emma was sad to see them go, but she seemed to understand it.

They were enjoying themselves, though, Felicity and Digg were delighted to see how much Oliver and Robin did not get along, and how they kept trying to up one another, even if neither of them had their bow in hand.

Still, they didn’t leave before Oliver all but shoved his quiver into Robin’s hands.

‘Stop being stubborn’, Oliver all but growled. ‘Trick arrows. Exploding, grappling, tranquilizers, flashes, sleeping gas.’

‘But i-‘, Robin tried, to no avail.

‘Take the quiver!’, Oliver growled. ‘And let Emma know when you run out.’

With that, he turned around and aggressively got into the car, leaving behind an equally pissed off Robin. Regina thanked Felicity in his name, and grumbled something about men and their egos, that had them both laughing.

The hug Felicity shared with Emma was a long one, that ended with a couple of tears and a promise to visit more often.

Emma also told Felicity that she was going to jump Hook as fast she could get away with it, and that she should totally do the same with Oliver.

… Felicity waited until they were back in Starling, but only because Digg was there.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so apparently there has been a Rapunzel on ouat. I completely forgot. I forgot a lot of things that happened on ouat. sorry?


	62. Gothika defeating a man twice her size

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [Sammygrrl](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Sammygrrl/pseuds/Sammygrrl) asked: _can you do a prompt where felicity is an underground street fighter. then oliver diggle and roy find out._

Felicity has been by their side for a couple of months, and throughout this time, things followed a routine.

She did what Oliver asked of her, found the information he needed, hacked into this and that. By now, she only grumbled slightly when Oliver had to take a kill shot, but, to be fair, he was trying his hardest not to.

When Felicity broke their routine, of course Oliver noticed it.

»

He didn’t have anything particular scheduled for tonight, just a simple patrol. But Felicity had other ideas.

She discovered some activity from one of the names on Oliver’s list. Craig Drowney has been involved in people trafficking for the past years, and tonight he had a transport scheduled. Five children, all abducted in the past week, were going to be shipped out to some remote Arabian country.

Of course, Oliver agreed to go after him. But he still asked Felicity how she stumbled upon the information. Her explanation was flimsy, to say the least, but Oliver didn’t have time to press.

He got Digg and together, they waited for Drowney and his men to bring the children to the port. When they did, it proved that Felicity’s intel was off.

There was a van, where the kids were probably held, but Drowney wasn’t there yet, and his men were twice as many as they should have been. Still, Oliver and Digg attacked.

Just as they were about done with dealing with the goons, a bike came up, and Oliver recognized Drowney. But he lost his bow in the fight, and he felt a wide array of bruises and cuts on his body, and Digg still had two goons to worry about.

So Oliver straightened his shoulders and tackled Drowney.

He wasn’t winning, but he wasn’t loosing either. For a while, they were at a tie, fighting hard. But Drowney got the upper hand, and Oliver found himself pinned to the ground.

But before he could catch his breath and react, he heard heels. Heeled shoes, running on the pavement. And before he could even turn his head, Drowney was off of him.

In complete shock, Oliver saw Felicity.

In high heels, wearing the fashionable tan coat he saw her in earlier that day, her hair in a perfect pony tail and her lips as pink as ever.

She must have been the one who pushed Drowney off of Oliver, but that didn’t make any sense.

Drowney laughed, slowly getting up.

‘Oh, this is good’, he kept on laughing. ‘I’ve been waiting for another chance at you for a long while, Smoak.’

Felicity smirked, just looked at Drowney for a while, before turning to look at Oliver.

‘Help your driver’, she said, ‘he’s hurt. I’ve got this.’

Oliver managed to shake his head.

‘Go!’, Felicity said more strongly, before grinning. She looked insane.

‘I’ve got this.’

With that, she turned to look at Drowney again. Then she straightened her shoulders and adopted a perfect boxing stance.

‘Come and get me, douchebag.’

Oliver watched in something close to horror as Drowney attacked Felicity. He got up, fully intending to help her, get into the fight, but he faltered.

Because Felicity didn’t need his help. She blocked Drowney’s blows, she kicked at him, connecting every time. She was fast, strong, clearly trained.

‘Arrow!’, she yelled without stopping her fighting. ‘Help your…’, she faltered as she had to duck, ‘fucking driver!’

It was the curse word that made Oliver move, because Felicity never cursed.

By the time Oliver and Digg were done fighting the goons, Drowney was on the ground, clearly unconscious, his face a bruised mess and knuckles covered in blood.

‘Well that went well’, Felicity said.

She looked horrible. Her knees were scraped, the coat was a mess, her hair was mostly out of her pony tail, there was a bruise already forming on her cheek and her bottom lip was split. She was also bleeding, from several places, the knuckles most of all.

‘We gotta go’, Felicity said next.

‘What about the kids?’, Digg asked.

She threw him a look. ‘I called the Police already, they’re on their way, but they can’t find us here.’

Felicity was right, of course, so they reluctantly parted ways, going to their cars, deciding to meet up back at the Foundry.

»

Digg patched Felicity up.

Then she patched him up. Then she patched Oliver up.

There were no words spoken during this time, but Oliver was itching to ask. Thankfully, he didn’t need to.

‘So I guess I have some explaining to do, right?’, she asked, blushing.

Digg nodded enthusiastically, as Oliver tried his best to keep his expression neutral.

Felicity sighed, turning her back to them and heading toward her computer. She spoke as she typed.

‘My mom put me in some karate classes when I was 8. She was dating the trainer at the time, but anyway.’, she shook her head. ‘I … kept at it. Not the karate, that was way too… strict for me. But I kept on with the fighting.’

‘How?’, Digg asked.

‘Classes.’, Felicity didn’t miss a beat. ‘First self defense, then attack, and fast forward to college, I was in boxing competitions.’

Oliver shared a disbelieving look with Digg. But then their attention was drawn to Felicity’s monitor.

There was a youtube video playing, called _Gothika defeating a man twice her size._

And there she was. Felicity, in the middle of a boxing ring. Felicity, in kaki shorts and a black tank top. Felicity, with jet black hair and her eyes rimmed with a lot of black.

Her boxing gloves were dark purple.

And just as the title said, in the course of two minutes she defeated a man that was the size of Digg.

‘Gothika?’, Digg said once the video was over.

Felicity flinched, and blush. ‘In my defense, I didn’t choose the name. It was my trainer’s brilliant idea.’

‘What about Drowney?’, Oliver found himself asking.

‘That was my last fight’, Felicity said. ‘Legal one, anyway.’

Oliver’s jaw dropped.

‘Anyway’, she went on, ‘I kicked his ass and his ego. Won a bunch of money. Hurt his feelings. I recognized his name in your book and I just… had to’, Felicity sighed. ‘This was the first time I found anything concrete.’

‘Wait’, Digg said suddenly. ‘So last month, when I tried to train you…’

Felicity’s expression instantly turned, into one of innocence, very playful.

‘That was fun’, she giggled. ‘It’s very hard trying to seem clueless, let me tell you.’

Digg made an undignified sound, waving his hands. It made Felicity laugh.

When she calmed down, she turned to Oliver.

‘I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.’ Then, she narrowed her eyes. ‘You should have done a more thorough background check on me.’

‘Felicity’, Oliver gritted out, but he wasn’t able to continue.

‘Yeah’, she said, smiling. ‘I get it.’

And that was the end of the discussion.

»

She trained with Digg. They spared, he started teaching her how to shoot a gun.

Oliver kept his distance.

He didn’t know why, exactly. Digg thought that he was probably afraid of hurting her. Or maybe that he didn’t want to see Felicity in a different manner.

Oliver had no idea. He just knew that the idea of hurting Felicity made his stomach turn and his hands shake.

So he kept his distance, and Digg stopped pressing. Felicity never said one word about it.

»

Weeks later, Oliver watched in weird fascination as Felicity wiped the floor with the Count.

She came out of it shaking, swearing profoundly as she cried. She also smashed the Vertigo syringe under her heels, letting out what could only be called a victorious battle cry.

Felicity then ran to Oliver’s side and hugged him tightly.

»

Two days later, Oliver wordlessly gave Felicity her training clothes.

She raised an eyebrow, but Oliver didn’t back down.

‘It’s late’, Felicity said, and it was. It was usually the time she left the Foundry and went home. Digg has already left for a couple of hours, it was just the two of them.

Felicity hummed, getting up from her chair and grabbing her clothes.

‘Are you going to hold back?’, she asked, an obvious challenge in her eyes.

‘That’s not the plan’, Oliver admitted, and it made her grin.

And true to his word, Oliver didn’t hold back. Not really. He didn’t attack either, he mostly focused on dodging her blows. At first.

But as they fought, Oliver felt something.

After the island, fighting became a routine for him. A means to an end. A necessity.

But this… this was fun.

Oliver was genuinely enjoying himself. Getting punched in the face and on the sides, panting and sweating, dodging blows and getting creative.

Because Felicity was creative. She wasn’t a boxer, rough and unrefined, she was playing. Trying moves that were ridiculous, but worked because Oliver wasn’t expecting them.

He lost himself with Felicity. He didn’t hold back, he touched her and kicked her, he grinned when she grunted and didn’t even feel bad when it was his turn to groan.

At one point, he got his arms around Felicity. Her back was pressed tightly to his front, his hands were holding onto her arms, crossing them over her chest.

Oliver didn’t see it coming. Felicity pushed back against him, hard and rough, her ass connecting painfully with his groin.

He let go of her, in pain, and next thing he knew, Oliver was down on the mats, Felicity was straddling his hips, and her elbow was pushed to his throat.

Not as hard as she could have, but enough to make him understand that he was defeated.

Oliver yielded, relaxing his body under hers. But Felicity didn’t move.

Instead, she smiled. ‘I got you.’

‘Yeah’, Oliver breathed out.

They were both panting and sweating, their skin slipping in the places it touched.

‘I think I deserve a prize’, Felicity said next, smirking.

Something dark crossed over her eyes. Something… hot, that had Oliver breathing even harsher.

Suddenly, he was very aware of everything. Of every place they touched, of the warmth coming from her body, sweeping through his clothes.

Of the bead of sweat rolling down her collarbone, heading straight down to her cleavage. Of Felicity’s lips, devoid of lipstick for once, wet and inviting.

It was a bad idea.

Oliver wasn’t known for his good ideas.

‘You do’, he said, voice lowered. ‘You do deserve a prize.’

Felicity bit on her lower lip, and Oliver couldn’t look away. He looked until he couldn’t anymore, because Felicity’s lips pressed to his.

Once again, Oliver didn’t held back. He kissed her as best as he could and it didn’t take long for Felicity to melt against him.

Her elbow wasn’t digging into his neck anymore, her hands were instead on his chest and neck, roaming and leaving hot paths in their wake.

But Oliver couldn’t let her have the upper hand. Not yet.

So when he was sure Felicity was mellow enough, he put his hands on her waist and without stopping the kissing, he flipped them over.

Now Felicity was laying on the mats and Oliver was straddling her. He held himself up with his left hand, not wanting to crush her with his weight, and moved his right hand. Slowly, from her thigh up her waist, and gently over her chest, stopping on her neck.

There, he pressed. Slowly, but with enough power to make her stop kissing.

She looked dazed when she opened her eyes. Felicity was still panting and it seemed like her eyes couldn’t focus on Oliver.

He smirked. ‘Got you.’

‘Oh’, Felicity breathed out. ‘You asshole.’

She kissed him again, and Oliver laughed against her lips. It died down quickly, when she pushed her hips up to connect to his and soon enough, any vague memory of a training fight was forgotten.


	63. Mr. Terrific

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [KayCeeCann](http://archiveofourown.org/users/KayCeeCann/pseuds/KayCeeCann) asked: _Thea and Curtis NEED to meet on the show. The two of them standing in the background gossiping while Oliver shakes his head and Felicity doesn't notice because she's tipsy and just trying to get into his pants.. :D actually.. Can that be a prompt? Pretty please?_

Thea knew she wasn’t the only one who couldn’t stop thinking about Curtis.

Not when Felicity and Oliver were in the middle of the dancing ring, lost in their own world, holding each other close and whispering in each others’ ears, slowly dancing to the sound of music that boomed over the reception hall.

Their wedding rings glinted in the light and Thea couldn’t be happier. Her brother just got married and his wife was walking.

Her eyes circled back to Curtis, who was the one who made it happen.

He looked very handsome, a lot better than the last time she saw him. Granted, they were in the middle of a mission then, Thea looked different as well. She wasn't wearing a dark red mask now, for one, but a dark purple gown.

Curtis was sitting at a table, and just as Felicity and Oliver were doing, he was ignoring everyone else around him, everyone except for his husband.

They were so cute, Thea thought. Just as cute as Felicity and Ollie.

She sighed. She wanted to dance, and she wanted to talk to Curtis. They never have officially met, the time when she was Speedy doesn’t count, because he doesn’t know it was her.

So Thea squared her shoulders and made her way to Curtis’ table.

She boldly placed herself between Curtis and Paul, bending forward and leaning her elbows on the back of their chairs.

‘Hi there, boys’.

Curtis gulped. ‘Mrs. Queen-‘

‘Nuh-uh’, Thea smiled. ‘I’m Thea, it’s very nice to meet you Curtis. Paul.’

‘You’re Oliver’s sister, right?’, Paul asked around a smile.

‘Yup’, she grinned. ‘Would you mind if I borrowed your husband for a minute?’

Paul narrowed his eyes, but it looked playful. ‘You’re not gonna make him work, are you?’

Thea chuckled. ‘No, I’m gonna make him dance.’

Paul grinned. ‘That’s great. Maybe he’ll dance with me if you loosen him up first.’

Thea raised an eyebrow towards Curtis. He was staring at her, obviously flustered.

Still, he shook himself out of it, getting out of his chair and politely extended his hand, which Thea took with a smile.

He was a bit awkward as they took a place on the dance floor, but his hands were where they were supposed to be, his posture was stiff but suited for the dance. He gently squeezed her hand and he smiled before he started leading.

The song playing was a slow one, but the party was still just starting, so the dance floor wasn’t crowded. Felicity and Oliver, Digg and Lyla, Mama Smoak and Papa Lance, and one of the men on the PalmerTech board of directors with his wife.

She didn’t feel awkward dancing with Curtis. Not when Felicity grinned at her from over Oliver’s shoulder, and not when Paul was smiling softly towards them.

‘Has anybody thanked you yet today?’, Thea asked, and Curtis faltered a bit in his dancing.

‘Thanked me for what?’, he frowned.

‘For being a genius and an amazing friend? For giving Felicity her legs back?’

He ducked his head. ‘Mrs. Queen-‘

‘Thea’, she corrected, and he nodded.

‘Thea, I don’t need anybody to thank me. I’m just…’, he looked towards Felicity and Oliver. ‘I’m just very glad they’re happy.’

‘Yeah’, Thea had to agree. ‘You should still give yourself more credit.’

‘Oh, I do’, Curtis said, and suddenly, his face lit up. ‘We’re going to start mass producing the chip. It’s going to be expensive’, his face fell briefly, ‘but Felicity says she’s working on finding a charity to help. That PalmerTech can afford to give some away for free, and that she’ll sort something out.’

‘That sounds great’, Thea smiled widely at him.

She was hit suddenly by a wave of emotions. She let go of Curtis’ hand in favor of wrapping both of her arms around his shoulders, pressing their bodies close together.

He stopped dancing, flinched with his whole body, but Thea didn’t let go of him. Slowly, he let out a long breath and wrapped his hands around her waist.

‘What’s wrong, Thea?’, he asked gently.

‘Nothing’, she sniffed, completely surprised by the tears in her eyes. ‘I’m just so happy.’

‘Well it is a wedding’, he chuckled.

‘Yeah, I just never thought I’d get here.’

He didn’t say anything, but Thea still felt the need to explain.

‘When Ollie came back from that island, he was… empty. I never thought… She makes him so happy. So incredibly happy and I … They’ve been through so much together.’

‘But they’re here now’, Curtis held her tighter.

Thea nodded. ‘Thank you. Really, Curtis’, she pressed her cheek to his shoulder, ‘Thank you so much for everything you did for her.’

‘Oh, kid’, Curtis breathed out, one hand moving from her back to her head. ‘You Queens are something else.’

She laughed at that, how could she not? He didn’t even know the half of it.

Upon hearing Thea laugh, Curtis let go of her, slightly, just enough to be able to look her in the eye.

‘Meltdown over?’, he raised a playful eyebrow. ‘Cause I don’t particularly mind having beautiful young girls crying on me, but now’s really not the best time.’

Thea snorted. ‘So I should take you out for coffee next time I’m having a meltdown?’

He chuckled, hugging her again. But this time, he also twirled them around and dipped Thea, making her giggle.

‘That doesn’t sound so bad.’, he grinned, and she laughed.

He pulled her up and they hugged again, Thea laughing and still crying.

‘Curtis’, a menacing voice boomed, ‘did you make my sister cry?’

Thea rolled her eyes and detached herself from Curtis, as he turned with a mildly scared look to Oliver, who was glaring at him. Felicity was by his side, but she was rolling her eyes.

Surprisingly, Curtis grinned next, grabbing a hold of Thea’s hand.

‘Yes, I totally made her cry’, he said seriously. ‘She’s very sad I’m a married man.’

Oliver held his glare for a beat, but it was like he couldn’t help himself. His mouth turned up, just slightly, as Felicity giggled.

‘Come on, Curtis’, she said with authority. ‘Dance me up!’

He quickly agreed, sparing a wink in Thea’s direction before letting Felicity drag him away.

Thea was left with her brother, who sweetly kissed her cheek before wordlessly taking her hands and leading her to the rhythm of the music.

It’s been a while since they dance, a couple of years, actually, and Thea started crying again.

Oliver chuckled under his breath, and he moved, proper dance etiquette forgotten. Instead, he wrapped his hands around her waist and picked her up. This is how they used to dance when they were younger, Oliver holding her above the ground, moving her with the music.

‘It’s a wedding, Speedy’, he whispered, and it’s been a while since Oliver used that nickname out of their suits. ‘You’re supposed to be happy.’

‘I am’, Thea breathed out. ‘I really am, big brother.’

Oliver twirled them twice at that, a bit more forcefully than he should have. It only made Thea giggle.

‘Did you really have to cry over Curtis’ suit, though?’, he asked, obviously teasing.

‘Shut up’, Thea grumbled, lightly kicking at his shin. ‘I just…’

She couldn’t go on, but Oliver understood it anyway.

‘I know’, he smiled a bit. ‘Me too.’

‘How long do you think it’ll take?’, Thea asked.

‘What?’

‘Till he finds out about us.’

Oliver snorted. ‘Knowing Felicity, not long.’

‘Good’, Thea nodded strongly. ‘I like him, we should keep him.’

He laughed at that, twirling her once more before putting her down.

‘You good?’, he asked, smiling softly.

‘Yeah’, she nodded. ‘Go dance your wife’s feet off.’

Oliver grinned, so wild and happy, Thea couldn’t help but laugh. He went to Felicity’s side, easily pushing Curtis away, and he came to Thea’s side again.

‘Drink?’, he asked. ‘Paul’s been looking for a troubled teen to adopt. Wait, are you old enough to drink?’

Thea gasped, completely affronted, but Curtis was laughing, so she just playfully kicked his shoulder.

He laughed, wrapping a hand around her shoulders and guiding her back to his and Paul’s table.

‘So’, Thea asked, ‘How long do you think it’ll take till they run away to screw each other senseless?’

Curtis barked out a laugh. ‘Considering where her hands are, I give them like… two hours, tops.’

Thea spared a look, and sure enough, Felicity’s hands were on Oliver’s ass.

She grinned at Curtis, and he grinned right back.

≡

When Thea goes to Curtis’ office a week later with two cups of coffee, he hugs her before saying anything else.

‘Meltdown?’, he asks softly, and Thea laughs.

‘Neah, I just wanna be your friend.’

He coos at that, then grins wildly.

‘Well good, cause I’m having a meltdown.’

‘What’s wrong?’, Thea frowns, suddenly worried.

‘Paul wants to have kids!’, Curtis screeches, then starts ranting about it.

It’s a pretty darn good cup of coffee.

≡

When Curtis finds out about the people behind the masks, he instantly turns to Thea.

‘I hate you’, he says.

Thea grins. ‘No you don’t.’

‘You’re horrible.’

‘No, I’m not.’

‘You’re all horrible.’

‘No, we’re not.’

‘Damn it, Thea.’

‘You’re just frustrated you didn’t figure it out yourself.’

‘Well, yeah.’

‘You’re still pretty terrific.’

Curtis then sighs, and ruffles Thea’s hair, a bit more forcefully than needed.

She lets him, but doesn’t really stop laughing.

‘You owe me so many coffees, oh my god’, he finally says, and Thea grins at that, jumping unto his back.

‘To the coffee shop, Mr. Terrific.’

Curtis freezes at that. ‘You did not just give me a nickname.’

‘It’s not that bad, actually.’, Oliver and Felicity say at the same time.

Thea cackles, as Curtis sighs and takes them both to the nearest Starbucks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DAREDEVIL SEASON 2 IS OUT  
> so uh PAUSE EVERYTHING for a couple of days. like. two days...


	64. Of superheroes and superwomen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [@geniewithwifi](http://geniewithwifi.tumblr.com/) asked: _To maybe help you get over that Marvel obsession.... Peggyxsousa and olicity? I don't know if you ship them...._
> 
> very loosely peggy x sousa. very. very. loosely. more of Cap looking for Bucky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any time marvel comes up, I just... relapse. this is 5k long. and, speaking of, season 2 of Daredevil was  
> A W E S O M E

Felicity doesn’t enjoy being out in the field. Sure, she fights Oliver about it, yells that she can take her of herself blablabla, but she doesn’t actually enjoy being out of the lair.

Especially when she’s being ambushed.

⃝

The team had to break into a facility that was supposed to be hiding illegal weapons. She couldn’t access the network remotely, so here she was, out in the field, her tablet connected to an outside terminal.

When she was done with it, she let her team know they can go in. Felicity was about to run back to the van when a gruff voice said her name.

‘Miss Smoak?’

Felicity froze, but just for a second. Then she reached to her belt, pulling out the baton Cisco designed for her, pushing the taser setting before turning quickly around, with all the strength she could muster.

Her baton connected with a shield, letting out a disturbing electric sound.

Captain America was sitting right in front of her, shield in front of his chest, having easily stopped her attack. The electrical current didn’t do a thing.

‘I’m not here to hurt you’, he said, not lowering his shield. ‘I just want to talk.’

‘What about?’, Felicity screeched, reluctantly lowering the baton.

He lowered his shield as well, and smiled at bit, at her.

‘About Peggy Carter and Daniel Sousa.’

Her breath left her.

‘Overwatch?’, Oliver said in her ear, and Felicity snapped out of it.

Captain America’s eyebrows were raised, a smirk on his lips, so somehow, he probably heard.

Felicity sighed. ‘I’m fine, Arrow. I just… have a visitor.’

‘On my way’, he said gruffly.

‘No, it’s fine.’, she tried, but Oliver wasn’t having it.

‘On my way’, he said again, more forcefully, and she could hear him running.

‘Did you have to do this now?’, Felicity couldn’t help but whine at the Captain. ‘What’s wrong with having a cup of coffee?’

‘With all due respect, miss’, he tilted his head, smiling, ‘you wouldn’t even have looked at me if I talked to you in a coffee shop.’

Felicity scoffed. ‘I would’ve looked, there’s a lot of you to look at.’

He blushed at that, as Felicity flinched. She didn’t get to say anything, because Oliver jumped next to her. She said jump, because he came from the roof, apparently, and he didn’t hesitate in pointing an arrow at Captain America’s chest.

‘Stand down, Hawkeye’, was what he said.

‘The hood’s a bit much’, a new voice said in her ear, and Felicity faltered.

‘Did you just hack into my comm?’

There was a pause. ‘It’s not like it has your name on it.’

‘It does, actually’, she snapped, ‘the network's called Overwatch5.’

Another pause. ‘Sorry.’

‘Look’, Captain America said. ‘I really just want to talk with you.’

He didn’t even look at Oliver, but he didn’t put down his bow, and Cap didn’t lift his shield to defend himself. Hawkeye probably had an arrow trained on Oliver, on Felicity too, maybe, and she was just so tired.

‘Fine’, she said, boldly putting a hand on Oliver’s bow and lowering it. ‘But not here, not like this. How about we ditch the suits and get a pizza or a coffee or something?’

‘You’re not even wearing a suit’, Hawkeye said in her ear, and Felicity rolled her eyes.

‘Don’t try me, Barton’, she all but spit out.

‘You know him?’, Cap frowned.

‘Captain Rogers’, Felicity raised an eyebrow. ‘Everybody knows the Avengers.’

‘Fair enough’, he said after a beat. ‘How do we know you’ll show up?’

‘Good question’, Oliver grunted, and Felicity didn’t even look at him as she elbowed him in the ribs.

‘It’s obvious you can find me either way’, Felicity pointed out. ‘But, I… I’m curious.’

He tilted his head at that. ‘Where?’

‘Big Belly Burger on Madison? Half an hour?’

‘I love me some Big Belly Burger’, Hawkeye said, and Felicity and Cap both rolled their eyes at that.

⃝

Oliver didn’t let her go alone, obviously, but he let his bow behind. He grabbed a gun and knife instead, but still, at least they were hidden.

Cap and Hawkeye were already waiting for them, along with a dark skinned man that Felicity didn’t recognize. They were all wearing civilian clothes and had cups of coffee in front of them. Barton had a plate too, but it was already empty.

‘Rogers’, Felicity said as she sat down in the booth across the table from them. ‘Barton. This is-‘

‘We know’, Hawkeye interrupted her. ‘Oliver Queen, fellow archer.’

Oliver froze next to her, and Cap sighed.

‘Please excuse my partner, he doesn’t know what subtlety means.’

Felicity snorted before she could stop. ‘I thought you were a spy.’

Barton narrowed his eyes, but Cap stopped him from talking.

‘This is Sam Wilson’, he pointed to the third man. ‘Falcon.’

‘Oh’, Felicity breathed out, remembering Cisco raving about the tech on those wings. ‘Okay.’

‘Look’, Rogers said to Oliver, ‘we really have no business with you, or with your… operation. We wildly endorse it, actually.’

‘What’s this about, then?’, he asked, making Rogers frown at Felicity.

‘You didn’t tell him?’

She shook her head. ‘Figured you’d want to hear the story too. I hacked into Shield records, I know there wasn’t a lot on what happened.’

‘You hacked Shield.’, Barton said slowly. ‘Without them knowing.’

Oliver smirked at that, relaxing slightly in his seat, and signaling the waitress to bring them coffees.

‘We don’t know much, Miss Smoak’, Cap started, but Felicity waved him off.

‘Lose the formalities, will you, Steve? I can’t handle being proper right now.’

He chuckled at that. ‘Fine. Felicity, we don’t know much. There was just a report, filed by Agent Carter when you were 12. It didn’t say much.’

‘It’s a … long story.’, Felicity said. ‘Do you know who the Calculator is?’

‘Read about that a while back’, Sam said. ‘You put him in jail.’

‘Right’, Felicity nodded. ‘He’s my dad.’

There was a silence that followed.

‘That sucks’, Clint said and Felicity snorted.

‘What does he have to do with Peggy and Daniel?’, Steve asked.

Felicity took a sip of her coffee before talking.

‘I was about 6, when Peggy Carter came to our house. I didn’t know it back then, but I found out later that she wanted to recruit my dad. For Shield.’

‘Did she?’, Steve asked, and Felicity shook her head.

‘No, he declined the offer. Preferred to go on the more… illegal side of things. He left when I was 7, on the run because the FBI was after him. Maybe Shield, I don’t know. The Police file said FBI, but-‘

‘Why did the Police show you the report?’, Clint asked, and she leveled him with an amused look.

‘They didn’t. I hacked it.’

He narrowed his eyes.

‘It’s what I do, Clint’, Felicity smiled. ‘Get used to it.’

‘Anyway’, she went on, looking at Steve again. ‘A couple of years later, I was… 13, I think, I got into some trouble at school. Hacked my way out of it, but they showed up at my house a couple of hours later.’

‘Carter and Sousa?’, Steve asked, and she nodded.

‘We just talked, they tried to convince me to … not follow in my dad’s footsteps.’ She shrugged. ‘I wasn’t going to, but it was nice to hear, at that time. Agent Carter said I had a future with Shield, that I should just stay in school and work to become the best. She promised she’ll come back for me when I’ll finish school, but it didn’t happen.’

‘She was forced to retire, by that point’, Steve said sadly. ‘Alzheimer’s.’

‘I’m sorry’, Felicity said, but he waved her off.

‘So that’s the only contact you had with them?’

Felicity nodded, but when Cap shared a long look with Clint without actually saying anything, she had to ask.

‘What do you want? Why does this matter now?’

‘Did you read Carter’s report on _you_?’, Clint asked.

Felicity shook her head. ‘I didn’t think there’d be one.’

‘Well there was’, Steve said. ‘Peggy said you had the potential of being the biggest technician Shield ever had.’

She pulled a face. ‘I’m so much more than a technician.’

‘Yeah’, Clint snorted, ‘but Shield didn’t have another name for it back then. Carter would have probably invented a position just for you.’

‘Are you recruiting me?’, Felicity asked, somewhat incredulous. ‘There’s no more Shield, everything fell with you and the helicarriers. And I kinda’, she pointed at Oliver, ‘had a job already.’

Steve smiled, a bit. ‘We’re not recruiting you, but we… I need your help.’

He sounded miserable.

‘With what?’, she asked, slowly.

‘I need to find someone. Someone that doesn’t exist, someone who doesn’t want to be found. Someone Hydra’s probably looking for, whatever’s left of them.’

‘The Winter Soldier’, Sam said, and Felicity’s jaw dropped.

‘The … guy who almost killed you and did kill half of the crew on that helicarrier while getting to you?’

Steve flinched, hard.

‘Hydra brainwashed him’, it was Sam who explained, spearing Steve of it. ‘For a long time. He has no idea who he is, he was just…  programmed to follow orders.’

‘You’re not making any sense’, Oliver said, slightly annoyed.

‘The Winter Soldier is Bucky Barnes’, Clint said quickly, pulling off the band aid. ‘He didn’t die in the 40s, Hydra got him, erased his memories and kept him frozen when they didn't need to send him on missions.’

‘What the heck?’, Felicity said, eyes wide.

‘He recognized me, towards the end’, Steve said slowly. ‘Dragged me out of the water and saved my life. I don’t think he remembers everything, but…’

‘He remembers you.’, Sam nodded. ‘At least to an extent. But that’s about the only good news.’

Felicity put a hand on her forehead and turned to Oliver.

‘This is pretty freaky, even for us.’

Oliver snorted. ‘I don’t know, did the Flash ever tell you about that gorilla with mind control powers?’

Felicity blinked. ‘Fair enough.’

Then, she turned to Steve. ‘I’m going to need anything and everything you know.’

‘We should move this down’, Oliver bumped his shoulder with Felicity’s.

She mocked gasped. ‘Are you suggesting we take them to our secret lair? Who are you and what have you done with my boyfriend?’

He rolled his eyes, good naturally.

‘Honey, if we can’t trust Captain America, the world as we know it is doomed.’

‘Fuck yeah’, Clint agreed.

‘Language’, Steve sighed, but he also got up and went to pay the bill.

⃝

Their jaws dropped when they stepped into the lair.

‘Dude’, Clint said, heading straight to the arrows display.

‘Dude’, Sam said, heading to the training area.

‘Is that a-‘, Steve said, heading to the bikes.

Felicity and Oliver shared a smug look. Not for long, though, he went to make them more coffee, and she headed to the computers.

Steve joined her, not long after. He explained to Felicity what he knew about what Hydra did to the Winter Soldier, but it wasn’t much. Not a lot that could help Felicity track him.

There was also a file, but it was in Russian, and Steve didn’t manage to translate all of it, because they’ve been on the road for such a long time.

‘Honey’, Felicity raised her voice, grinning. ‘Your Bratva skills are needed.’

Oliver came out of the kitchen quickly, carrying a tray with coffee cups to the conference table.

Clint was the first one to get to it.

‘Did she just say Bratva?’

Oliver nodded, unperturbed. ‘I used to be a Captain.’

‘Used to?’, it was Sam that asked.

‘We had a falling out.’

‘Dude’, Clint said, with feeling. ‘People don’t just have a falling out with the Bratva.’

Once again, Oliver shrugged.

Steve whispered to Felicity. ‘What’s a Bratva?’

‘Russian mob’, she whispered back, and Cap nodded.

‘So you speak Russian?’, he asked Oliver.

‘Yes, I can translate the file.’

They switched, Felicity took the cup of coffee from his hands and he took the dossier from hers.

And then, it was quiet in the lair, as Oliver skimmed over the file and the rest of the men fixed their coffee cups.

‘Out loud, Oliver’, Felicity finally said. ‘You’re going to need to translate out loud.’

Oliver locked eyes with her. ‘This is going to be bad.’

‘I’ll grab the tissues’, Felicity sighed, but headed towards the conference table.

Absently, she heard Oliver preparing Steve for how awful it was going to be, but Cap seemed strong enough to take it.

He wasn’t.

By the time Oliver reached the end of the file, Steve was crying silently. Felicity was sobbing, but the rest of the men seemed pretty composed. Angry, each and every one of them, but composed.

Ready to shoot someone, Felicity thought.

‘Are you staying in town?’, she startled them all.

Sam was the only one to nod. ‘We need to get some rest, to be honest. Figured we’d stay for a couple of days, in case you find something.’

‘I’ll do my best’, she promised, talking at Steve. ‘I’ll give you full access’, she waved a finger to the entirety of the lair, ‘but you don’t _need_ to be here. I’ll call as soon as I find anything, I promise.’

Steve nodded, running a hand over his face.

‘Thank you Mr. Smoak’, he said with feeling and Felicity shook her head, deciding not to mention the way he addressed her.

‘Don’t get your hopes up, Cap’, she said as kindly as she could. ‘You said it yourself, he doesn’t want to be found. I might not be able to do-‘

‘Thank you’, he said again. ‘For even trying. It’s more than most people would have done.’

Sam elbowed him.

‘Present company excluded, of course’, Steve rolled his eyes, making his partners grin.

Felicity grinned too, because their dynamic was familiar.

⃝

They came back in the morning, wearing gym gear.

‘We weren’t expecting you to be here’, Steve said, nervously rubbing the back of his neck.

‘I don’t mind’, she smiled at him. ‘If you don’t mind me working while you guys train.’

‘Don’t you have a job?’, Clint raised an eyebrow and Felicity faltered for a second.

‘Do you really not know what my job is?’

‘No?’, he shrugged. ‘Sam was in charge of research for this.’

Felicity looked to Sam, who was grinning somewhat manically.

‘Do you know PalmerTech?’, Felicity asked Clint, and he snorted.

‘Spend enough time around Stark and you’d get to know all about his direct competitors. Although’, Clint frowned, ‘I remember him saying that the CEO dying screwed up their stocks.’

Felicity glared, a bit, she couldn’t help it.

‘The stocks have been going up in the past four months, and they’re going to keep doing so.’

Clint frowned.

‘I’m the CEO’, Felicity said, unable to not sound smug.

‘And you hack for the Arrow by night’, Sam pointed out.

‘Well’, Felicity smirked, ‘part of the night. We do other things for the rest of it.’

Felicity will forever be proud of the fact that she managed to make Captain America, Hawkeye and Falcon facepalm at the same time.

⃝

The men took turns sparing, and Felicity didn’t drool as much as she thought she would have, too preoccupied with her work.

Oliver called at some point, reminding Felicity she needed to eat. So she ordered pizza, which surprised the men, but they were grateful.

Lunch was spent talking with Hawkeye about trick arrows. It was… enlightening, for Felicity. She had ideas and she’ll be needing Cisco’s help.

Nobody said anything about Bucky Barnes.

⃝

Some hours later, after Oliver came and joined the men in training, when Felicity was reduced to staring at the monitors, Steve came up to her desk and leaned against it.

‘You didn’t find anything, did you?’

She sighed, but got up and guided Steve to the conference table. Sam and Clint joined them, Oliver went as far as sitting next to Felicity and holding her hand.

‘I’ve went about this in two different ways’, she started by saying. ‘First, by trying to understand what happened to him, and second, trying to actually track him.’

‘Okay’, Steve said slowly. ‘So you did find something.’

Felicity avoided answering. ‘I’m not a doctor or a bioengineer, but I know someone. Well, the Flash has some friends. Very smart, trustworthy. I mean’, she backtracked, ‘I’m sure you’ll get Doctor Banner and Mr. Stark to look over the files, but until you can get the translation to them…’

‘It’s fine’, Steve shook his head. ‘What did they find?’

‘Not a whole lot, the file is lacking in technicalities. But it does have a basic level of information, that made Doctor Snow kinda understand what was done to… him.’

‘You can say his name’, Steve smiled. ‘I won’t break down from hearing it.’

‘I will’, Felicity admitted, before shaking it off.

‘The major problem right now isn’t the amnesia or programming, not really.’

‘That don’t sound right’, Clint pointed out.

‘He was drugged’, Felicity said. ‘Heavily, constantly, with things that made Doctor Snow’s fingers curl and honestly, she said she didn’t even know half of those components. But the thing is, the amnesia and uh… mind control. They came from those drugs.’

‘So it’s not a problem because he’s not drugged anymore.’, Sam said, logically.

Felicity shook his head. ‘There’s an automatic trigger in the arm, that releases a small dose. It’s not enough for the effect to be full, hence why he recognized you, but it’s enough to…’

‘Yeah’, Steve said when she didn’t go on.

‘Cisco, the engineer I told you about’, Felicity went on, ‘he’s working on a way to destroy that trigger without blowing up the arm. A short term solution, until you get to Stark.’

‘Good idea’, Sam said, smiling at her.

‘What’s the problem?’, Clint asked. ‘You haven’t said yet.’

‘The withdrawal’, Felicity said slowly. ‘He’s… bound to be incredibly sick. And after you stop the drugs completely, it’s bound to be even worse.’

‘But did you find him?’, Steve said somewhat forcefully. She didn’t flinch, though.

‘At first, I started with footage from around the… wreck, in DC. I found him, on and off, but I managed to follow him to New York. Then Chicago. Dallas, Paris, London, Rome-‘

‘Wait’, Sam frowned. ‘That’s…’

‘Yeah’, Felicity interrupted. ‘You’ve been looking for him, when all you should have done was look over your shoulder.’

‘He’s been following us’, Clint summarized.

‘So he’s here?’, Steve asked, hope clear in his tone.

Felicity nodded. ‘Most likely. I haven’t tracked him down yet, but he tends to go out at night. Hopefully I’ll catch him on cctv tonight.’

Steve let out a big, shaky breath.

‘How long until Cisco comes up with a solution?’, it was Oliver that asked.

‘He and Caitlin are already on a train. Should be here in a couple of hours.’, Felicity nodded.

Suddenly, Steve got up.

‘I need some air’, was all he said before all but marching out of the lair. Nobody followed him.

⃝

Three hours after the sun went down, Felicity’s program tracked The Winter Soldier through the city.

The men wanted to go out instantly, but she stopped them. He was coming their way, she thought, and she was right.

Bucky honest to god knocked at the door to what used to be Oliver’s campaign office. Steve was shaking, somewhat, as he made his way up the stairs, but Sam, Clint and Oliver had his back.

It wasn’t needed, really, because Bucky wasn’t hostile at all, not as far as Felicity could see on her monitors.

‘Hi, Steve’, he breathed out. ‘I’m late.’, he cleared his throat. ‘Sorry.’

‘Are you…’, Steve tried. ‘Bucky?’

‘Lil’ bit’, he shook his head , Brooklyn accent seeping through. ‘I’m the Soldier too. I’m… still very confused.’

‘I can help with that’, Steve said quickly. ‘My friends and I, we can help with that.’

Bucky nodded, slowly. ‘Please’.

⃝

The first time Felicity saw Bucky Barnes in the flesh, she wanted to cry.

His clothes were filthy, his hair was tangled, he looked like he hadn’t slept in a year, he was starving but struggling to eat the grilled cheese she made him.

He was also tense. Incredibly tense, eyes always darting throughout the lair. Scared, she thought. It made sense, Steve was the only person he knew in the room and he was surrounded by weapons.

Caitlin wanted to do a medical check on him. Cisco wanted to have a look at the arm, he had to open it up to stop the drugs from getting into his system. Bucky agreed, but it was clear that he was dreading it.

‘Hey, guys’, Felicity said. ‘Do you think you could do this upstairs? It’s clean enough. And we can move all the equipment you need with the elevator.’

‘Why?’, it was Bucky that asked, staring at her.

Felicity tried to sound as gentle as possible. ‘I just thought you’d feel a little bit better if you weren’t surrounded by so many strangers and weapons.’

Bucky looked away quickly.

‘She’s right’, Caitlin said softly. ‘If you think that would make you more comfortable, we can move this upstairs.’

‘Totally’, Cisco agreed, waving a hand around. ‘I don’t like being surrounded by so many superheroes as I work anyway.’

‘Oh, I’m still going to be there’, Steve said before Bucky could even open his mouth.

‘So that’s like… five normal superheroes’, Cisco shrugged. ‘That’s fine.’

Bucky smiled, almost. Felicity smiled, fully.

⃝

The second time Felicity saw Bucky Barnes in the flesh, it was three months later, in DC, just outside of the facility Peggy Carter was staying at.

Surprisingly enough, he recognized her. Even more surprising, he smiled at her.

‘Miss Smoak, what are you doing here?’

‘Mr. Barnes’, she smiled right back. ‘I’m here to see Peggy Carter.’

‘Right’, he blinked. ‘Steve said you’ve met before. Well, she’s having a good day today.’

‘Great’, Felicity breathed out.

Bucky looked pretty amazing, she thought. His shirt was not only red, but it was ironed. His hair was still long, but cut and his beard was trimmed. There was a light in his eyes, that wasn’t there before. She noticed that his left hand was covered by a glove, but she also noticed that it was a piece of Captain America merchandise, a small shield on the back of it.

‘You look good’, she said, when Bucky made no move to leave.

He took a deep breath as he looked at her. ‘It’s still a work in progress, but… I’m going to get there.’

‘I’m sure you will’, Felicity said quickly, smiling at him.

Bucky shook his head. ‘How come you’re in DC? Just for Peggy?’

‘Not exactly. I’m here for a meeting that I insisted on being a part of’, she shrugged. ‘I’m flying to a conference in New York later.’

Buckly blinked, and tilted his head.  

‘Is Stark going to be there?’

Felicity frowned. ‘Not that I know of.’

‘Cause he’s been dying to meet you’, Bucky explained. ‘Steve and Banner are constantly stopping him from jumping into a jet and flying out to Star City.’

Felicity just… blinked for a while. ‘Why?’

‘We’re not actually sure’, Bucky frowned. ‘I, personally, think it’s half between wanting to meet the Arrow’s girlfriend, and half wanting to talk… tech to you.’

Felicity didn’t even stop to think about it. ‘You heading back to New York?’

Bucky grinned. ‘I could use a ride.’

‘Just let me’, Felicity pointed towards the building.

‘Sure’, he smiled, getting out of your way. ‘I’ll grab us some coffee.’

Felicity kept smiling all the way to Peggy’s room.

And she kept on smiling in there, because Peggy remembered her.

‘Oh, my boys have told me all about you’, the frail woman smiled at her. ‘I was very glad to hear you made something good of your life.’

‘I tried my best’, Felicity shrugged. ‘It wasn’t always easy, but…’

‘I have half a mind to reprimand you, young lady’, Peggy said next, smiling mischievously. ‘Dating a superhero is bound to be dangerous. But I’m more curious to ask how that’s like.’

Felicity laughed. ‘Complicated, mostly. It was hard getting here, but it’s easier now. Most days.’

‘I’ve learned that happens in most relationships, Felicity. Is he taking good care of you?’, Peggy asked in a voice that was a lot stronger than her body.

‘Yes, ma’am. Yes is he. And I’m taking good care of him.’

Peggy laughed at that. ‘That’s the exact thing Bucky said about Steve.’

⃝

Felicity spent the flight to New York hearing Bucky’s voice.

He talked about a lot of things, about how he got used to… being Bucky. About how much the Avengers helped, about how much Steve helped, about how he’s still having troubles adjusting to the modern world, but it’s easier for him now.

He’s still struggling, but he admitted that he could finally see a light, a not so distant future where he is going to be okay.

Felicity couldn’t stop smiling.

⃝

Bucky asked Friday to not tell anybody he brought company. Felicity drooled over Friday, making Bucky laugh.

The floor they stopped at was a large lounge area. Steve and Stark were sitting on a couch, Sam and Clint were playing Call of Duty and a woman Felicity knew to be the Black Widow was reading in an armchair, tucked under a fluffy blanket.

She saw them first.

‘Bucky’, she said slightly reproachful, ‘you should have told me you put yourself back on the dating scene.’

He snorted, Felicity pulled a face.

‘No thank you, I have my very own superhero with PTSD to deal with.’

Steve was out of his chair in an instant, and only after a brief hesitation, he hugged her tightly.

When he let her go, Stark was there, shaking her hand.

‘Mrs. Smoak, it’s a pleasure to meet you. How are you here? Did Barnes kidnap you? You know what, I don’t care, you’re staying, and we’re talking.’

‘What about?’, she asked, a bit dazed.

‘Business opportunity between Stark Industries and Palmer Tech, possible alliance between the Avengers and Green Arrow, I guess Flash too, right? And, not the least important, I want to get my hands on the Atom suit blueprints and see just how similar it is to my own or to Ant-Man's.’

Felicity breathed in, turning, somewhat desperately, to Bucky and Steve.

‘You don’t have to’, Bucky said around a smile.

‘You could just stay for dinner.’, Steve added.

‘I can’t actually’, Felicity said after a deep breath. ‘I do really have to present at that conference. But… How about I call Oliver? And Barry?’, she spared a look to Stark. ‘Cisco too. Caitlin, if Doctor Banner is around. See if they’re up for a trip?’

‘I don’t know who those people are’, Stark said, and Felicity turned to look at Bucky, surprised.

‘We only ever told them your name’, he said. ‘Figured the rest would want to keep their identity secret.’

She smiled at that. ‘Thank you for that. You’re right but, I’m not gonna lie, an alliance doesn’t sound so bad.’

‘Great’, Stark clapped his hands. ‘I’ll get Pepper to get us a conference room ready.’

Felicity snorted. ‘Not your best idea, Mr. Stark.’

‘I’ll make sure there’s beer and pizza’, Clint said and Felicity grinned at him.

‘That’s better.’

Stark sighed, but he seemed pleased.

‘Come on, ma’am’, Steve nudged her shoulder. ‘I’ll give you a ride to your hotel.’

‘No, Steve’, Bucky said with authority. ‘No way is she getting on your bike in heels and a short skirt.’

‘Wanna bet?’, Felicity snorted, making both of their jaw’s drop.

‘I like you, you're super’, the Black Widow said, and Felicity blushed, but she also grinned at her.

Bucky sighed, completely dejected. ‘Dames these days.’

‘Is that why you’re gay?’, Clint asked without a pause.

Bucky narrowed his eyes. ‘No, I’m gay because Steve.’

‘Pretty darn good reason’, Felicity found herself saying.

There was a pause.

‘Are you really not surprised?’, Stark finally asked. ‘That Captain America and his BFF from the 40s are gay for each other? Cause we were surprised. Quite a lot.’

‘Well’, Felicity gulped. ‘I’ve seen the Arrow, the Flash, Black Canary, Arsenal, Firestorm and the Atom fighting Ra’s al Ghul, The Dark Archer, Zoom, Heatwave and Captain Cold. And I’ve seen them all eating gummy bears infusion tea afterwards. I’m not… easily surprised. Anymore.’

There was a lengthy pause. A very lengthy pause.

‘That sounds incredibly hot.’, Widow finally said.

Felicity snorted. ‘Patching up half naked men loses its appeal’.

Widow pointedly looked at Clint’s ass. ‘If you say so.’

Felicity’s phone wrung, Oliver’s face popping up on skype.

‘Where are you?’, he opened up with.

She looked behind her phone, to the Avengers surrounding her in the building controlled by the world’s most advanced AI.

‘Honey’, she breathed. ‘You won’t believe me if I tell you, but you’re joining me tomorrow.’

Oliver frowned, of course, so Felicity turned, until he could see the Avengers.

‘Oh’, Oliver breathed out. Then, he narrowed his eyes. ‘I’m not letting Stark anywhere near my arrows.’

‘Hey!’, Stark yelled, affronted. ‘Hawkeye’s very pleased with how they perform.’

‘And I perform just fine with mine’, Oliver countered, and Felicity felt a sort of kinship to him, because she was usually the one to make innuendos.

‘Too much information, Robin Hood’, Stark piped up, and Oliver looked murderous, before it was replaced with a very confused look.

‘I thought you were going to see Peggy Carter. How did that turn out into this?’

Felicity smiled. ‘Peggy Carter does tend to bring out the superheroes, doesn’t she?’

‘Yeah’, Bucky and Steve said in complete sync.

Oliver frowned. ‘I’ll book a plane ticket.’

‘Bring Team Flash too.’, Felicity grinned.

Oliver sighed. ‘You’re not the boss of me’, he mumbled.

Felicity grinned.

‘Love you’, Oliver whispered.

Felicity winked.

‘See you soon’, Oliver shook his head, before hanging up.

‘That was the Arrow?’, Stark said. ‘He doesn’t sound so impressive.’

‘I really like you’, Widow said, and Bucky sighed.

‘This is gonna end badly.’

Felicity laughed. ‘I can’t wait.’


	65. Jurassic World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _Olicity visits Jurassic World!_

**→DAY ONE: evening**

‘I still can’t believe we’re married’, Felicity sighed, snuggling more onto Oliver’s side.

The plane seats were a tight fit, but that didn’t stop him for doing his best to accommodate her.

‘Well I’ll make sure to convince you’, Oliver answered, wrapping their fingers together, wedding rings clinking against each other.

Felicity hummed. ‘I know what that means, but no.’

‘No?’, he asked as innocently as possible.

‘No, Oliver, we’re not spending our entire honey moon locked away in our suite. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’d love to do that, but… Oliver’, she said in awe, ‘dinosaurs!’

‘I know’, he chuckled. ‘Dinosaurs. Sounds exciting.’

‘I can’t wait!’

**→DAY TWO: morning**

‘Do we have to get out of bed today?’, Oliver murmured against Felicity’s collarbone.

She pretended to think about it. ‘There are a lot of cool stuff we could be doing today. There’s a velociraptors show at 2, the water exhibit has a presentation at 4, we could always go for a gyrosphere ride…’

Oliver whined.

‘Or’, Felicity grinned, ‘we could stay in bed all day.’

‘That!’, Oliver said, voice a bit more raised. He rolled himself on top of Felicity, pointedly bringing their hips together. ‘We’re doing that.’

 

**→DAY THREE: morning**

‘Okay, what are we doing today?’, Oliver asked, having breakfast in bed.

Felicity smiled. ‘I really wanna see the velociraptors. The reviews online said that their trainer, this guy, Owen Grady, apparently, he’s crazy and awesome.’

‘That sounds good’, Oliver chuckled. ‘It’s at two?’

‘Four’, Felicity nodded. ‘I figured we could see the museum before that. Grab some lunch on the strip.’

‘Sounds good’, Oliver smiled.

 

**→DAY FOUR: evening**

‘That was the best thing I have ever seen!’, Felicity all but screeched.

Oliver chuckled, but he had to admit. ‘I am impressed. I really wasn’t expecting them to look that… real.’

‘And Grady was amazing!’, she kept on screeching.

‘Hey’, Oliver said a bit more gruffly. ‘I’m your husband.’

Felicity stopped dead in her tracks.

‘I don’t like you talking about other men like that’, Oliver said, voice lowered. ‘I’ll get jealous.’

‘You know’, Felicity gulped, ‘I should be mad, but honestly, that was … kinda hot.’

Oliver all but picked her up and ran them back to their suite.

 

**→DAY FIVE: morning**

‘If you keep doing that’, Felicity moaned, ‘we’re going to be late.’

‘What were we supposed to do?’, Oliver whispered the words against her thigh.

‘I …’, Felicity breathed harshly. ‘I think that… I don’t remember.’

Oliver grinned.

 

**→DAY FIVE: noon**

‘You’re driving, right?’, Felicity raised an eyebrow.

Oliver narrowed his eyes. ‘You can drive, if you want. I never drove a gyrosphere.’

Felicity huffed. ‘You’re driving, I’m taking pictures.’

It was weird, to start with. It took a good 5 minutes for Oliver to get used to it. But after he did, it was smooth sailing.

Until it wasn’t.

Until they heard a defying roar, that made them both freeze. Until Oliver stopped the sphere, just in time for them to see a giant dinosaur running towards them.

Oliver’s instinct was to run. Felicity stopped him from moving the sphere.

‘Maybe it’s like a bear’, she said quickly. ‘Or a wolf. You’re not supposed to make sudden moves.’

Despite the fact that every bone is Oliver’s body was yelling at him to run, he listened to Felicity. And sure enough, the monster ignored them completely, running over them.

They shared a long, frightened look.

‘What do we do?’, Felicity breathed out.

‘Head back’, Oliver didn’t even hesitate to put the sphere in motion again.

 

**→DAY FIVE: early afternoon**

The entire park was in chaos. People were running around, as the speakers told everybody to calmly head to the closest evacuation area.

Oliver and Felicity ran where the little arrows on the walls told them. There were three evacuation planes there, two of the already filled. As they took off, they opened the third plane, and urged everybody in quickly.

Felicity was just about to put her foot on the plane when they heard that defying roar again. Oliver’s instinct was to pull his wife as close to him as he could, and it was a good thing, it saved Felicity’s life.

Because before their eyes, the giant dinosaur threw the plane in the ocean.

Oliver grabbed Felicity and ran. As fast as they could.

They were running against the flow of people, but Felicity never once stopped to ask where they were going.

It was a long track back to their room, but thankfully, it was still standing.

‘What are we doing here?’, Felicity asked, panting. ‘Are we hiding?’

‘You are’, Oliver said quickly. ‘I … am fighting.’

He wordlessly took out one of his suitcases, opened the fake bottom and took out his bow and hood.

‘God damn it’, Felicity breathed out. ‘You brought your suit on our honey mood?’

Oliver looked, incredulously, at her. ‘Can you blame me?’

Felicity sighed. ‘No, no I can’t.’

She wordlessly headed to her own suitcase, and Oliver silently watched her go through the same process he did. Only she didn’t pull out a bow and hood, instead she pulled out a catsuit similar to Laurel’s, and a pair of batons.

‘I haven’t had a lot of practice with these’, she said. ‘But they’re the strongest tasers Cisco was able to make.’

Oliver breathed in. ‘I don’t know if I want to yell at you or kiss you.’

She smiled. ‘Figure it out later.’

Felicity started taking off her clothes, and Oliver did the same.

 

**→DAY FIVE: afternoon**

‘Hey!’, a gruff voice said. ‘What the hell are you doing here, the evac ended an hour ago.’

Oliver and Felicity turned to see Owen Grady running towards them. He had a machine gun in each hand, and there was a redhead woman panting after him, in widely inappropriate heels.

‘Oh my god’, she said as they got to their side. ‘You’re the Arrow!’

Oliver just nodded.

‘And you’re…’, the woman turned to Felicity. ‘Black Canary?’

She smirked. ‘Not quite. Overwatch.’

‘I never heard of you’, came the prompt response.

Felicity snorted. ‘I tend to stay at headquarters.’

‘Seriously’, Grady gritted out, ‘who the hell are you and why the hell are you here?’

‘We’re here to help.’, Oliver said gruffly.

‘Do you know anything about the Indominus Rex?’, Grady got up in his face.

‘No’, Oliver responded calmly, ‘but I have 15 exploding arrows in my quiver and my wife’s batons have enough electric power to kill 100 people at once.’

‘That can work’, Grady said very slowly, stepping back.

‘We have to find the kids first’, the redhead woman said.

‘What kids?’, Felicity said, dread clear.

‘My nephews. I last saw them by the velociraptors crib.’

Felicity swore under her breath. She spared a look to Oliver, but it wasn’t a long one. She then wordlessly reached into one of the pockets of her suit and got out a sleek looking taser, extending it to the woman.

She took it and shoved it in the back of her skirt.

‘What’s a good place to corner the … Irex?’

Grady pulled a face. ‘That’s a horrible nickname.’

‘Oh’, Felicity snarked back, ‘cause Indominous Rex is such a good one?’

‘Stop!’, the woman all but yelled. ‘We have to get it back into it’s containment.’

‘Which isn’t working anymore’, Grady pointed out.

‘Why isn’t it working?’, Felicity asked.

‘We don’t know’, the redhead shook her head. ‘The door just opened and he got out.’

Oliver looked at Felicity.

‘You and Grady go check that out. I’ll take…’

‘Claire’, the redhead supplied.

‘Claire and look for the kids.’

Grady looked like he wanted to protest, but in the end he didn’t. He just sighed and gave Claire one of the machine guns.

**→DAY FIVE: late afternoon**

‘I need to get to the control room’, Felicity told Grady.

‘Where does it look like I’m going?’

‘Grumpy’, Felicity sighed. ‘Fortunately for you, I do have a lot of experience with your type.’

He glared, even as he was leading her up a set of stairs.

‘I’m not a _type._ ’

‘Okay, sure’, Felicity shrugged. ‘I just meant that when I met the Arrow, he was even grumpier than you are now. So I know how to handle you.’

‘Lady-‘

‘Overwatch’, Felicity interrupted.

‘I am not calling you that.’, Grady huffed. ‘You don’t know anything about me, so don’t act like you do.’

Felicity rolled her eyes. They were just stepping into the control room, so she didn’t bother with him anymore. Instead, she headed to the computers.

It didn’t take long for her to gain full control of the containment unit.

‘Someone messed with the code’, she said. ‘I can fix it, give me ten minutes.’

‘Don’t you need like… an access password or something?’, Grady asked, frowning at her.

Felicity raised an eyebrow, unable to not look smug. ‘I hacked that five minutes ago. Now let me work, and think of a plan of getting the Irex back here.’

Thankfully, he didn’t say anything else.

**→DAY FIVE: late afternoon**

‘So I’m not supposed to mention how up close you look a lot like Oliver Queen?’

Oliver sighed, looking at Claire.

‘I’d really rather you didn’t.’

‘Fair enough’, she said after a beat. ‘Your secret’s safe with me.’

They were silent for a couple of minutes, as they made their way through the deserted shopping stip.

‘So Overwatch is Felicity Smoak?’

Oliver sighed.

‘Right, right’, Claire nodded. ‘Sorry. I’m shutting up now.’

And she did. Until they got to the velociraptors unit.

Oliver turned on his comm. ‘Overwatch?’

‘Here. What do you need?’

‘We’re at the spot. Any way you can help us look?’

Felicity was grinning, he knew it. ‘Of course, I have full access to the video cameras.’

‘Did uh… Did Grady give you access or did you hack the system?’, Oliver’s question made Claire turn to look sharply at him.

‘I hacked it, of course’, Felicity answered and Oliver sighed.

‘It doesn’t matter’, Claire shook her head, probably putting two and two together. ‘Just-‘

‘I found them.’, Felicity said. ‘They’re hiding in the food pen.’

They found the kids easily, and Oliver turned around when Claire started crying, hugging them tightly.

‘We got them’, he said into his comm.

‘Good’, came Felicity’s response. ‘Grady’s got a plan. It’s insane, you won’t like it.’

‘Great’, Oliver drawled out.

‘Meet us on the shopping strip.’

‘What am I doing with Claire and the kids?’, he asked.

There was a pause. ‘Bring them along’, Felicity sighed, clearly disapproving.

‘Aunt Claire, why is the Arrow here?’, a young voice screeched, and when Oliver turned around, both of the boys were looking at him with wide eyes.

‘I was just passing through’, he said.

Their eyes grew even wider. But the smaller one, he moved forward. He grinned excitedly and wrapped a hand around Oliver’s bow.

‘So cool.’, he said, and Oliver smiled, before he could stop himself.

‘Come on’, he said to Claire. ‘We need to move.’

 

**→DAY FIVE: evening**

‘This is a terrible plan’, Oliver said.

‘It’s idiotic’, Felicity agreed.

‘Born to fail’, Claire added.

‘So we’re doing it?’ Zach, the older brother, asked.

‘Yeah’, Oliver sighed. ‘We’re doing it.’

‘Cool!’, Gray, the little brother, said with a lot of excitement seeping through.

‘Claire’, Felicity said very seriously. ‘I think you should lose the heels.’

The redhead puffed a sharp breath of air. ‘I think you’re right, but… they’re Jimmy Choo’s’, she all but whined.

‘I know’, Felicity said, consolably. ‘I know.’

‘Ladies’, Grady growled. ‘Bigger issues.’

He looked to Oliver for support, but he didn’t give it.

‘Never get between a woman and her shoes’, Oliver said. ‘I’ve learned that the hard way.’

 

**→DAY FIVE: night**

Oliver watched in morbid fascination as the Tyrannosaurus Rex and the Indominus Rex fought. He was still focused, though.

He made sure the animals didn’t move towards where Felicity was waiting for a shot, or to where the kids and Grady were hiding. Claire made it safely back to Oliver, and they just watched.

‘This feels so wrong’, Claire whispered, getting Oliver’s attention.

‘It’s survival of the fittest’, he found himself saying.

‘It’s cruel’, Felicity said in his ear. Claire heard it, though.

‘It needs to be done’, she said, voice barely above a whisper.

Things were silent for another minute or two.

And then Felicity screamed.

‘Now! Babe, now!’

Oliver didn’t hesitate, Grady and Claire didn’t either.

Together, they attacked the Indominous Rex. Oliver shot arrow after arrow, some explosive, some tranquilizing ones, some plain old steel. Grady and Claire kept on shooting their machines guns and Felicity was the one who started it all, by throwing one of her batons straight into Irex’s mouth.

It went on for a long while.

Oliver had two exploding arrows left, Claire was on her third clip and Grady was probably in the same situation. Felicity was getting angsty.

‘We can’t keep this up much longer’, she all but screeched in Oliver’s ear.

‘It’s working, we’re pushing it where we need it!’, he heard Grady yell, probably close to her ear. ‘Not long now and it’ll-‘

‘Felicity!’, Oliver interrupted him, seeing an opportunity. ‘Now!’

She listened to him , throwing her second baton expertly into Irex’s mouth. The electroshock was all the push it needed, and the giant dinosaur fell into the water behind it, straight into another dinosaur’s jaws.

Oliver didn’t relax until they were both under water, until the T-Rex was making its way back to its containment and there weren’t any ripples disturbing it anymore.

‘Is it gone?’, Felicity asked, very hesitant.

The only answer she got was Grady letting out an obnoxiously loud victorious yell.

Claire didn’t wait for anything more, she shot out of their hiding space and ran, Oliver close at her feet. It was a surprise, when she all but collapsed into Grady’s arms and kissed him passionately, but Oliver couldn’t really dwell on it, not when Felicity did the same thing to him.

They all ignored the kids making disgusted noises in the background.

 

**→DAY SIX: early morning**

‘Well, I think it’s safe to say we won’t ever forget our honey moon.’

Oliver huffed a laugh, turning to look incredulous at his wife.

‘Felicity, trust me when I tell you that this won’t ever be considered our honey moon.’

She raised a questioning eyebrow.

‘This was a disaster’, Oliver didn’t beat around the bush. ‘We almost died, repeatedly, and I swear to you, Felicity, I’m going to keep trying. I will give you the honey mood you deserve, that we deserve, without any arrows or near death experiences.’

Felicity grinned, lovingly and widely, and she kissed his sweetly, as Grady flew them back on the continent.

 

**→Honeymoon2 DAY ONE: morning**

‘Did you bring you bow?’

‘Yes, Felicity’, Oliver rolled his eyes. ‘I did bring my bow, but only because I thought I could go hunting. Catch us a deer or two.’

‘Wow’, Felicity blinked. ‘Really?’

‘Well’, Oliver tilted his head. ‘What else are we supposed to do for a month in a remote cabin out in the woods?’

Felicity just blinked at him, before throwing him a particular look.

‘I won’t mind if I don’t get to hunt’, he finally said, and Felicity grinned.

‘Good answer.’

 

**→Honeymoon2 DAY ONE: noon**

‘Oliver!’, Felicity screeched. ‘Why is there a dinosaur mural on the bathroom tiles?’

‘Too soon?’, he asked around a wince.

He thought it was funny. Felicity, not so much.


	66. The Arrow and his Bodyguard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [@smoaking_blonde](http://archiveofourown.org/users/smoaking_blonde/pseuds/smoaking_blonde%20) asked: _I had this idea I couldn't get out of my head. It's an AU where Felicity was hired as Olivers bodyguard instead of Diggle. He could be the Arrow, could not. Entirely up to you._

There was a woman in the living room. Oliver didn’t know her, but that wasn’t surprising. What was surprising, was the way Oliver had to stop and remember how to breathe.

It’s been a long while since he was able to see a woman’s beauty, since it had such an effect on him.

‘Oliver!’, his mother said, beckoning him forward. ‘I want to introduce you to Felicity Smoak.’

He smiled and politely shook her hand. She was a small thing, supposed to be fragile. But she wasn’t, she held herself tall and strong.

‘She will be accompanying you from now on.’

Oliver’s smile quickly fell off his face upon hearing his mother's statement, and he took his hand away from the woman's hold, maybe with more strength than he should have, because Smoak raised her eyebrows.

‘I don’t need a babysitter’, Oliver told his mother, failing to keep the anger from his voice.

‘Not a babysitter, but a bodyguard.’

Oliver’s eyes grew wide at that.

‘I’m not going to-‘

‘This is something that I need, Oliver’, she said strongly, and he couldn’t upset her more.

So he turned to look at Smoak, who has been watching the exchange with a curious look. Only now did Oliver really look at her.

She was beautiful, yes, with bright blue eyes and blonde hair. But it was put up in a conservative pony tail, her black pants had a perfect line down the middle and her white shirt was perfectly ironed and tucked inside.

‘Were you on your way out, Mr. Queen?’, she asked, completely professional. ‘I’m an excellent driver.’

Oliver just sighed and made his way towards the garage.

≡

‘So’, Oliver said from the back seat. ‘What do I call you?’

‘Smoak’s good. Felicity, if you want.’

Oliver hummed. ‘You’re ex-military?’

‘Not exactly’, she didn’t flinch. ‘Went through training, never actually got sent out.’

He didn’t say anything, but Smoak kept talking.

‘I got the highest ranking scores on all the final tests, and I’ve been in the private sector for about two years now. I don’t want there to be any confusion, Mr. Queen, my ability to keep you from harm will out way your comfort.’

There was a pause. ‘Do we have an agreement?’

Oliver didn’t answer. Instead, he opened the door and jumped out of the moving car. He didn’t stick around long enough to see her reaction.

≡

The next night, she wasn’t driving anymore.

Instead, she was in the back seat, smirking slightly at him.

‘Put on your seatbelt, sir’, she said, mildly annoyed. ‘Wouldn’t want you to miss your party.’

He couldn’t help but smile and shake his head.

≡

She found him, damn it. And it was clear that she didn’t buy the bathroom excuse, considering they were in the wrong side of the building.

‘What are you doing?’, she narrowed her eyes at him.

He didn’t answer, too busy thinking of a way out.

‘How am I supposed to keep you safe if you won’t let me?’

Oliver couldn’t help but glare. ‘What makes you think I need you to keep me safe?’

She raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything else for a couple of seconds.

‘I just have one question’, she finally said, taking a step closer. ‘I don’t need to know how or why, but have you had any training in self defense?’

It took Oliver by surprise, but he didn’t show it.

‘Yes’, he said slowly, looking into his eyes.

‘Okay’, Smoak took a step back. ‘I programmed my number into your phone, call me when you’re ready to leave.’

She paused, but took out a small gun she had in her boot.

‘This isn’t happening’, she said as she put the gun in his hands.

And then she turned around and walked away.

Oliver was surprised. Also very amused, because a gun felt inappropriate in his hands. But he didn’t dwell on it, he had a job to do.

He left the gun in the car for her to find in the morning.

≡

She was there at the court room, when Oliver came back to life. Smoak didn’t say one word, she kept her distance, but she was always there, in his peripheral vision.

≡

When he got home that night, Smoak was speaking to his mother.

‘With all due respect, ma’am, I never had a client who didn’t want my protection.’

‘I hired you’, his mother said. ‘That makes me the client. Now where do you think my son is going on these excursions?’

‘Ma’am, I truly do not known.’

That was when Oliver made his presence known. It was an awkward discussion, so far from the truth. He never liked taking about sex with his mother, and Smoak being there didn’t make it easier.

But after his mother got emotional, Oliver had to nod.

‘Okay. Smoak’s my girl.’

The look she threw at him could have burned villages.

‘Sorry to give you so much grief.’, he said after his mother left.

She snorted at that, rolling her eyes.

‘You don’t even come close to my definition of grief, Mr. Queen. But I’ll tell you what’, her expression turned serious. ‘You ditch me one more time, no one will have to fire me.’

She left and Oliver felt bad. Mildly.

≡

She was judging him, after the heated discussion in Walter’s office. But she didn’t say anything out loud, not about how irresponsible he was, not wanting to be CEO, not about how rude he was to his mother, how he was hurting her.

Smoak just wordlessly led him to the car, climbing into the back seat next to him.

‘The driver will be here in a minute’.

‘Okay’, Oliver breathed out.

‘Do you wanna go for a drink?’

He startled at that, making her smirk.

‘You look like you need it.’

In the end, he didn’t go for a drink. He went home.

And later in the evening, he went to Laurel’s. And Felicity waited outside of the apartment door.

But when the woman with white hair attacked, Smoak was there.

Fought her hand to hand in close quarters, and Oliver would have marveled at Smoak's technique if he had the opportunity.

Instead, he picked up a knife and threw it with precision, the blade making the white haired woman run off.

Smoak was off the floor in seconds, even faster than Laurel threw herself into his arms.

‘Are you hurt, Mr. Queen?’, she yelled, and Oliver shook his head.

‘Are you hurt?’, she asked more forcefully, and this time, Oliver’s voice worked.

‘No.’

Smoak sighed, in anger and frustration. ‘This is why it’s a good idea to get a bodyguard, Mr. Queen.’

When Laurel’s father thanked Smoak, she easily shrugged it off.

But it wasn’t enough. So as they got home, Oliver cornered Smoak alone.

‘I wanted to say thank you, but I don’t think that’s going to cover it.’

‘As I said, I was just doing my job. Besides’, she took a deep breath, ‘I think it’s you that I should be thanking.

‘What for?’, Oliver frowned.

‘The knife’, Smoak said without hesitation.

‘Right. I got lucky.’

She threw him a look. ‘That was a kitchen knife. It wasn’t weighted properly, yet you threw it with accuracy across a ten foot room.’

‘Exactly!’, Oliver grinned. ‘I got lucky.’

She wasn’t buying it.

‘Mr. Queen’, she said slowly. ‘I’m not the kind of woman you want to take for a fool. I thought I proved that the night of your party.’

‘Yes’.

She huffed. ‘And I think I’m just beginning to understand just the kind of man you are.’

‘Shouldn’t take you very long’, Oliver smiled. ‘I’m shallow. And very tired, so. Good night, Mrs. Smoak.’

The ‘Goodnight, sir’ she threw his way was cold.                              

≡

When they visited the club, Tommy tried, for about 30 seconds, to flirt with Smoak.

She stared him down, glared, looked him up and down and smirked. Tommy stopped flirting.

‘Well, what do you think?’, Oliver asked after Tommy left.

‘I’m here to provide security, Mr. Queen, not a commentary.’, she deadpanned.

Oliver sighed, deeply. ‘Come on, Mrs. Smoak, do me a favor. Speak freely.’

She raised an eyebrow. ‘Well, this is the Glades, right? Your rich friends wouldn’t come to this neighborhood on a bet.’

He had to get cocky, to get to her level of sarcasm.

‘I am Oliver Queen, right? People would stand in line for three hours if I opened a club.’

‘And nobody who actually lives in the Glades would see a penny of those entry charges.’

‘We make a successful business’, Oliver countered, ‘we gentrify the neighborhood.’

She smirked. ‘I was wondering when we’d get to that. The white night sweeping in to safe the distant franchise. And all by his lonesome, with no help from anybody.’

‘Wow’, Oliver breathed out. ‘You don’t think very much of me, do you?’

‘Oh, I do think of you. Quite a lot. You just wouldn’t want to know what I think.’ There was a pause, in which she smirked. ‘Sir.’

She turned around and left, and Oliver knew he had to keep being careful with her.

≡

When Oliver kept Smoak out of the nightclub, she laughed.

He couldn’t hear her over the music, but he was pretty sure she said ‘fucking asshole’.

But when he and Tommy came out roughed up, she took them to a burger joint, where the waitress was a good friend of hers, and she made sure Tommy knew it.

≡

The next morning, she was drinking coffee in the kitchen, which was new. He didn’t comment on it.

‘Mrs. Smoak’, he smiled. ‘I’m going to go get dressed and we’re going to QC.’

She raised an eyebrow. ‘Accepting your mother’s offer?’

‘No’, he quickly shook his head. ‘No, I need to speak with someone in the IT department.’

Her other eyebrow joined the first. ‘Someone in particular?’

‘No’, Oliver frowned. She didn’t usually ask for so many details. ‘I have a problem with my laptop.’

‘Oh’, she breathed out, putting her mug on the counter. ‘Well, I could have a look at it, if you want.’

It was Oliver’s turn to raise his eyebrows.

‘I graduated MIT’, she said without any emotion in her voice. ‘I had a job lined up at QC even before that.’

Oliver’s jaw dropped, metaphorically speaking. Still, he hesitated.

‘Look, Sir’, Smoak pinched the bridge of her nose. ‘I gave you a gun, for Christ’s sake. And we both know you haven’t been having sex all these times you disappeared on me.’

She looked up. ‘What will it take to make you trust me?’

In that moment, Oliver knew, that whatever he will do next, will either cement his relationship with Felicity, or completely screw it up.

He didn’t know which would be better, but he did take her to his room and showed her the laptop.

‘I was at my coffee shop and I spilled a latte on it.’, Oliver said.

She just stared at him for a while.

‘These look like bullet holes’. There was absolutely no emotion in her voice.

‘My coffee shop is in a bad neighborhood.’

At that, her expression turned incredulous.

Oliver smiled. ‘If there is anything that you could salvage from it, I would really appreciate it.’

She rolled her eyes, but sat down and got to work.

≡

‘I haven’t studied Shakespeare in any of the fourth schools I dropped out of.’

Smoak shook her head. ‘Mrs. Steel is trying to buy Unidac Industries. And you’ve got a company laptop associated with one of the guys he’s competing against.’

‘Floyd Lawton’, Oliver nodded.

Felicity stopped breathing, but quickly shook herself out of it.

‘No, Warren Patel. Who’s… Floyd Lawton?’

‘He’s…’, Oliver hesitated. ‘An employee of Mr. Patel. Evidently.’

She didn’t believe him, clearly, and there was a stiff posture to her body as she walked out of the room. Still, she paused to remind him about the auction later in the evening and how important his attendance was for his mother.

≡

‘Smoak, got your eyes open?’

‘That’s why I’m here for, Sir.’, she rolled her eyes. ‘That, and answering patronizing questions.’

‘This guy is out of time, if he’s going to do anything, it’s going to be before the auction.’

It’s out of his mouth before he can double think it. And it felt natural, telling it to Smoak.

Who looked pale.

‘Sir’, she said lowly, ‘what are you talking about?’

‘I heard the story on the radio’, Oliver said, and he was thankful for Walter pulling him away.

≡

Smoak didn’t argue when he asked her to get his mother and sister outside. There was a harsh edge to her eyes, a question clear, but Oliver had no time to answer.

And then the first gunshot was heard.

≡

Oliver hit Deadshot in the elbow. And the knee.

Lawton fell to the ground, in pain, and the Hood made his way to his side, to finish the job.

A hand on his shoulder stopped him.

Oliver turned quickly, grabbing the intruder by the arm and fully intending to fight him off, but… it wasn’t an intruder.

It was Smoak.

Crying, a tremble in her lips, a gun in her shaking hand.

She pushed Oliver away, and he was too shocked to do anything about it.

‘Do you know who I am?’, she asked Lawton, a harsh edge to her voice.

‘Yeah’, the bastard laughed. ‘Got your sister, didn’t I?’

‘Yes you did’, Smoak gritted out. ‘And now, I…’

‘You can’t do it, can you, sweetheart?’, Lawton laughed at her hesitation. ‘Look at you, you’re shaking in your boots. You’re no killer, you don’t have it-‘

He was cut off by a bullet to the head.

Oliver’s instinct was to reach for his bow, but this was Smoak. And she was shaking and crying and-

‘You’re bleeding’, he said, only now noticing the gunshot wound in her shoulder.

She turned to look at him, and promptly passed out.

≡

When Smoak woke up in the Foundry, Oliver had his hood down. She didn’t seem surprised.

‘You’re going to be okay’, was the first thing he said. ‘I flushed the curary out of your system, but I waited for you to wake up before working on the gunshot. It’ll probably scar.’

‘Do you trust me now?’, Smoak asked, and it caught him by surprise.

‘I want to’, he admitted.

She didn’t say anything to that. Instead, she took off her blazer and shirt and urged him to start stitching her up.

He did so with clinical detachment, not once looking anywhere he wasn’t supposed to.

‘I figured it out, you know’, she said at one point. ‘At your party, I think. I was only sure this morning, with the laptop. When you said his name.’

‘You’ve dealt with Lawton before.’, was all he could think of saying.

‘No’, she shook her head. ‘Had I dealt with him, he would have been dead already.’

She didn’t look like she was going to continue, so Oliver pressed.

‘Felicity.’, he said softly, making her look at him.

‘He killed my sister. I don’t know why and I never managed to track him down. So thank you.’

That shocked him, and she saw it.

‘Thank you for letting me be the one to do it.’

Oliver swallowed. ‘What this your first kill?’

‘No’, she smiled. ‘But that’s a story for another night.’

‘Will there be other nights?’, Oliver found himself asking.

She looked at him for a long while, searching for something. In the end, she smiled.

‘Yes, there will be. Because you can’t do this alone’, she ran a finger over the zipper of his hood. ‘And because it’ll be easier to cover for you if I actually know what you’re doing.’

She hesitated, then. ‘Is that alright?’

Oliver found himself nodding. She smiled and urged him to go on with the stitches.

When he was done caring for her wound and she was wearing one of his spare shirts, she winked at him.

‘I kinda liked you calling me Felicity. Let’s do that, yeah?’

He chuckled, shaking his head. ‘Sure. But only if you call me Oliver.’

‘Oliver, deal.’

He was in trouble. Because hearing her say his name made his stomach turn.

≡

Years later, as she said his name in her wedding vows, it still made his stomach turn.


	67. Everything started in Vegas, but it moved around

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> K asked: I had a thought for a story... An au based on the song Fools Rush In by Elvis. Oliver goes to Vegas with Tommy to party, while he is there he meets Felicity who is getting ready to go to collage. Oliver falls for Felicity who has heard of his reputation and is not impressed. He proceeds to follow her to prove that he is the man for her and in the process becomes a better man. If you could have a jealous Laurel it would be great.  
> [@ofrainbowandstars](http://ofrainbowandstars.tumblr.com/) asked: More fic on laurel lance being jealous of olicity pls!  
> [@onlywiththeheartcansee](http://onlywiththeheartcansee.tumblr.com/) asked: I loved all Felicity vs Laurel. So I would ask for that again. Laurel being mean to Felicity, get around Oliver. I don't know, you choose the timeline, and motive (Maybe a little angst)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> highschool/college AUs always get out of hand

Vegas was a hell of a place. Oliver loved it to death, most of the time. Not right now, though.

Now, it was close to 4am, he and Tommy were still drunk, holed up in a crappy diner because it was advertising all you could eat waffles.

They weren’t the only ones there, though.

The diner was deserted, except for the waitress who also made the waffles, and a young woman, who sat alone in a corner of the place, table piled high with books and two laptops.

She was beautiful, Oliver though. Harsh. Goth. She had dark hair with purple highlights, a lot of black smudged around her eyes, a massive Egyptian looking cross hung around her neck.

Oliver couldn’t stop staring.

‘Anything else for you boys?’, the waitress came to their table, topping off their coffee.

‘Not for us, no’, Oliver smiled at her, lowering his voice. ‘But I’d like to pay for that lovely lady’, he pointed to the goth chick.

The waitress stared him down for a beat, then she snorted.

‘Felicity!’, she hollered. ‘This guy wants to pay for your waffles.’

Oliver locked eyes with the goth chick. With Felicity. She looked startled, wide eyes and jaw dropped. But then she narrowed her eyes.

‘It’s funny, see’, the waitress said, snickering. ‘Cause Felicity gets to eat here for free for the rest of her life.’

‘Oh’, Oliver frowned. He wanted to ask why, but thought better of it.

‘Hey Marcy’, Felicity said, finally looking away from Oliver. ‘How about you make a couple of hot teas, a burger and some curly fries? Throw in a slice of pie, too. To go, charge them on… his check.’

Oliver raised an eyebrow at her, and Felicity looked to him again.

‘You can take it to Bob.’

‘Who’s Bob?’, Oliver frowned.

‘The kid sleeping in the back alley. He’s 14. Schizophrenic, but he’s not violent.’

Oliver just blinked at her.

‘Sure’, Tommy nodded. ‘We’ll do just that.’

‘Okay’, Oliver felt the need to say.

There was a small smile on Felicity’s lips. ‘Thank you’, she said. ‘Now let me get back to work.’

She didn’t even lift her eyes from her laptops when Oliver and Tommy left. But, true to their word, they did hand the food to Bob. He was grumpy because they woke him up, but after he saw the food, he grinned widely, thanked them a bunch of times, and absently said that Felicity was his guardian angel.

Oliver woke up well after noon with a massive headache and a perfect memory of Felicity the goth chick.

⌂∆⌂

Two nights later, they were in a club. It was Oliver’s turn to get the shots, so he was at the bar when she saw her.

Felicity was still wearing jeans and a tank top, an outfit so weirdly inappropriate, considering what the rest of the women in the club were wearing.

Oliver didn’t hesitate, though. He walked straight to Felicity’s side, a big smile on his face.

‘Can I get you a drink?’

Felicity turned and stared at him.

‘She’s not allowed to drink’, a new voice said, and when Oliver turned around, the bartender was glaring at him. She was a typical Vegas woman, past her youth but still pretending to be young.

‘I can handle it, mom’, Felicity said, and it was Oliver’s turn to stare at her, because… they looked nothing alike.

‘Are you stalking me?’, Felicity asked next, and Oliver was quick to shake his head.

‘Good’, she nodded. ‘Best keep it that way, yeah? And maybe next time you see me’, she glared, ‘you don’t bother me again.’

She turned to her mother, smiling softly. ‘See you home.’

And then she left, and Oliver stared after her, until someone was tapping on his shoulder.

Turning around, Felicity’s mother was pointing to the tray of shots he order.

‘Forget about it, lover boy’, she said with authority. ‘She’s way out of your league.’

Oliver would have felt offended, but… she did have a point.

He took the shots and went back to Tommy.

He didn’t know the name of the woman he took to bed that night, but she had long black hair and blue eyes.

⌂∆⌂

It’s Tommy that pointed her out three days later. And sure enough, there was Felicity.

Sitting on a bench, three different books next to her and one in her hands. As Oliver looked, she raised a cup of coffee to her lips. But she scrunched up her nose, looking sad down at it, before throwing it away in a trashcan.

Oliver was up before Tommy got to say anything else. He all but ran to the coffee shop they passed on their way to the park, and got a cup of coffee, making sure to have the barista write _Felicity_ on the side of it.

She didn’t notice him, even though he put himself right in front of her, hand extended with the coffee.

It took her about two minutes, and then she startled and looked up with wide eyes. After recognizing him, they immediately turned to glare.

‘I might just call the police on your ass.’, she said.

‘I’m not stalking you’, Oliver said truthfully. ‘Honestly, I didn’t even notice you. Tommy did.’

He pointed at his best friend, three benches over. He waved, uncertain, making Felicity huff.

‘It’s Oliver, right?’

‘Yup’, he grinned. ‘I got you coffee.’

She took it, reluctantly, taking a long drag out of it.

‘What are you reading?’, Oliver asked, in lack of anything else.

She didn’t look at him, and she shook his head, but Felicity did hold up the book in her hands.

Oliver didn’t really understand the title, but it was something related to computer programming.

‘So you’re in school.’

Felicity shook her head. ‘Not yet. I’m leaving for MIT in three weeks.’

‘I’m impressed’, Oliver said, and he really was.

It just made her roll her eyes.

‘Did you want anything, or your sole purpose this morning was to annoy me?’

‘Oh no’, Oliver smiled his best smile. ‘Tommy and I were fighting hangovers. Annoying you is just a bonus.’

She huffed, mildly annoyed, mildly amused. Then, to Oliver’s surprise, she started packing up her things.

Felicity got up from the bench and stared up at him, a very serious expression on her face. It wasn’t a harsh one, aggressive or angry, but it was serious.

‘I’m really not your type, Oliver. And I’m not looking for a hookup. So thank you for the coffee, but uh… bye.’

Oliver didn’t find it in him to respond.

⌂∆⌂

It’s not like he was stalking Felicity all the way to the other side of the country. He wasn’t, he really wasn’t.

It was just that Oliver decided to listen to his parents, make something of his life, go to college. And, turned out, MIT had a pretty amazing business program and they accepted him, even so close before the year started (that most likely had to do with the generous donation his father gave, but, still).

And once there, it wasn’t like Oliver actively looked for Felicity. He didn’t. He could have, have a search through the student registry, the Felicity’s taking programming classes. But he didn’t.

Instead, Oliver actually focused on school. He went to classes, he studied in the library, did his homework every night.

He also went home every other weekend, for his mother’s sake as much as Laurel’s.

Tommy kept saying that Oliver was turning into an adult. He didn’t feel like an adult, it was just that getting drunk every other night seemed kind of counterproductive when he had essays to write.

So Oliver didn’t look for Felicity.

He still saw her, though.

⌂∆⌂

Two months into the school year, Oliver decided to try something new. So instead of going to the Starbucks on campus, he walked an extra ten minutes to the hipster coffee shop across from campus.

Felicity was there. Sitting at a large round table, books and notebooks scattered around, a laptop and a tablet. She looked exactly like Oliver remembered her, even if she looked a lot more tired. College did that to you, he thought.

Oliver grabbed himself a coffee and wordlessly sat down across the table from her. She didn’t notice, and Oliver didn’t want to interrupt her. It was clear that she was working, and working hard, so Oliver kept his mouth shut, and pulled out his own laptop, starting on his homework.

It took 20 minutes for Felicity to notice him. She yelped.

Oliver looked up, smiling. ‘Hi’.

She spluttered. ‘Are you fucking kidding me? What the hell are you doing, Queen?!’

He raised an eyebrow. ‘Currently? Writing an essay about the importance of social media in any marketing campaign.’

Felicity’s jaw dropped.

‘This is taking stalking to a whole new level.’

‘I’m not stalking you’, Oliver rolled his eyes. ‘Really, if I were, I probably would have made contact with you in the first week of school.’

‘Right’, Felicity blinked. ‘Why didn’t you do that?’

‘Cause I’m not stalking you!’, he laughed. ‘I usually go to the Starbucks on campus. I just thought I’d try something else today, cause this essay is giving me a lot of problems, and I thought a change of scenery might help. So here I am.’

‘Really?’, she glared at him. ‘So you don’t want anything from me?’

He shrugged. ‘I wouldn’t mind a friend.’

Felicity snorted. ‘People like you don’t make friends with people like me, Queen. And, really’, she pulled a face, ‘ _friends_ is a really bad euphemism.’

Oliver just looked at her for a while. ‘I’m uh… not like that anymore. Really, I’m focusing on school right now. And I have a girlfriend. A stable one. She’s back home, but we’ve been together for… wow uh two years now?’

‘That…’, Felicity started saying, slowly, but Oliver cut her off.

‘And recently I’ve actually stopped cheating on her, so…’

‘What the hell is going on?’, she breathed out.

Oliver chuckled. ‘I keep running into you. Do you want to… give me your number? So that we could actually plan when we’ll run into each other next?’

‘Why?’, there was no emotion in her voice.

‘I could use a study buddy.’, Oliver shrugged. ‘I know, we’re studying different things, but I’m more inclined to actually focus on homework if the person next to me is doing the same.’

She blinked four times. ‘I don’t know.’

‘Okay’, Oliver nodded. ‘That’s okay. Think about it’, he smiled, easily. ‘I’ll just go back to my essay.’

He did just that, trying his best to ignore the fact that Felicity was staring at him. After a few long minutes, she went back to her work. Oliver sighed, deeply, and focused back on his essay.

They didn’t exchange any more words then, but two hours later, before she left, Felicity got Oliver a fresh cup of coffee, and she wrote her number on it.

⌂∆⌂

They start of easy. Meeting in the library once a week. Sometimes, they meet at a coffee shop. During midterms, they meet at a diner.

During finals is the first time Felicity steps foot in his room. She’s been sexiled by her roommate, but she had a lot of studying to do, as did Oliver.

So as he poured over his work on his desk, Felicity sprawled on the floor. They ordered pizza and Chinese that night, made a fresh pot of coffee every three hours and they both fell asleep where they stood, sometime after the sun came up.

When she left that day, Felicity stared at him for a long, long while.

‘We’re friends’, she said, and it wasn’t a question, because they were.

Oliver grinned.

⌂∆⌂

They texted over the holidays, even if they both went home.

When the second semester started, they fell into their old routine, but it evolved. Oliver didn’t really notice it, it was Tommy that pointed it out.

Now, Oliver saw Felicity almost every day. Sometime, they spent hours together in the library, pouring over homework. Other times, they’d meet for 10 minutes at the coffee shop, between classes. Sometimes, they’d watch a movie and share a pizza in the evenings.

‘Laurel will get jealous’, Tommy had said, and Oliver scoffed at that. Because it wasn’t like that with Felicity.

Yes, she was hot, but Oliver wasn’t like that anymore.

Felicity was his friend. She was funny and kind and sarcastic, and they worked well side by side, pushed each other to keep working, helped keep their focus.

They were friends, but they were also study buddies, as Oliver said all those months before.

Tommy didn’t believe him. So Oliver decided to prove it to him.

That weekend, Tommy visited him, and on Friday night, Felicity joined them for dinner. They went to her favorite diner, and of course, Tommy started hitting at her five minutes after they met.

She took it in stride. Felicity didn’t flirt back, she just snarked at Tommy. That didn’t stop him from trying for the rest of the night. But Felicity didn’t back down, and nothing came out of it, except from Oliver laughing for most of the evening.

They walked her home, and when they stopped in front of her building, Felicity leveled them with a look.

‘So. Do I pass the test?’

‘What test?’, Oliver frowned.

‘You passed’, Tommy grinned at Felicity, gently and friendly hugging her.

‘What the hell?’, Oliver couldn’t help but grit out.

His friends just laughed at him, but Felicity did hug him as well. For the first time ever, Oliver realized.

‘It’s Tommy’s job, as your best friend forever, to make sure that your other friends are worthy’, she explained. ‘And I passed.’

Oliver blinked slowly, looking between Felicity and Tommy, before setting his eyes on her.

‘Well of course you did, you’re great.’

It was the right thing to say, because Felicity hugged him again, and Tommy laughed.

⌂∆⌂

Things changed after that, a little bit.

Oliver got hugs from Felicity now, every time they met, instead of a hello and goodbye. Sometimes, she even kissed his cheek.

And she came over a lot more. While she had a roommate and lived on campus, Oliver lived just outside of it, and he lived alone. It was logical, for her to want to spend time in the silence of Oliver’s apartment, and he didn’t really mind it. Not when they were doing homework, not when she was drinking his coffee, not when they were watching a movie.

Another thing that changed were the topics of discussion. Felicity started opening up to him, and Oliver gave back just as much.

They talked about their families, about Felicity’s father leaving, about her not so good relationship with her mother, about how many expectations Oliver’s father had for him, and how much of those he didn’t ever meet.

Felicity talked about her best friend at home, Barry, and Oliver talked about Thea. He talked a lot about Thea.

And then Felicity talked about Connor, the guy she dated for a couple of months at the beginning of the year, before he dumped her with no explanation. Oliver talked about Laurel in return. About how he thought he loved her, but he couldn’t really see himself spending the rest of his life with her.

The first time Felicity intentionally spent the night, it was after they had this discussion, and it was clear they were both rattled by it. Oliver let her have the bed, completely ignoring her protests, and made himself a cozy enough nest of pillows and blankets on the floor.

‘Hey’, she whispered, patting his hair. ‘Thank you.’

‘You don’t have anything to thank me for’, Oliver mumbled, already half asleep.

‘Thanks for not giving up on me, Oliver. Thanks for hassling me into being your friend.’

That… yeah. It hit him, sometimes, that Felicity was the only real friend he had at college, and that he would be miserable if it weren’t for her.

‘Yeah’, was all he managed to say. ‘Sleep, Felicity.’

She snorted, slightly, and he heard her rolling over. ‘Good night Oliver.’

It was too hard to actually answer her back, but until he fell asleep, he counted her breaths.

Oliver kept doing that, every time she slept over. It happened about once a week. He didn’t mind it, really.

⌂∆⌂

Felicity calling him at 7am on a Friday morning was odd, to say the least.

‘What’s wrong?’, is what he opened up with.

‘Do you have a suit here with you?’

Oliver paused. ‘Yes? Why?’

‘I need a date’, she breathed out, somewhat desperately. ‘I mean, not a date-date, but a plus-one.’

‘What?’, it was too early in the morning for this.

‘There’s a party’, Felicity all but whined. ‘That the faculty is throwing cause they got a gianormous grant for a project, and I’m going to be on the project, and I have to go and I don’t even have a dress or a date and-‘

‘Felicity!’, Oliver snapped. ‘Pause and breathe.’

She did as asked, and Oliver was silent as she took three deep breaths.

‘Okay, when’s the party?’

‘Tomorrow’, Felicity said, completely dejected.

‘It is a black tie?’

‘Yeah. I don’t… oh god, I’m going to have to wear heels’, she sounded terrified.

‘Do you have any plans today?’

There was a beat of silence. ‘No, my teacher excused me from all classes.’

Oliver thought about it, for half a second, but considering he hadn’t missed one class the entire semester, he could afford to skip one day.

There was only one problem left, the fact that Oliver would not take no for an answer when he’d offer to buy Felicity’s dress, but there was no way in hell she would agree to it.

‘Uh, when’s your birthday?’, he asked next.

‘January 10th, why?’, she sounded suspicious.

‘I’ll make you a deal’, Oliver said. ‘I’ll come with you to the party on one condition.’

‘What’s that?’, she sounded borderline defensive.

‘You let me buy you the dress, on account of your birthday.’

There was a long pause, and Oliver prepared himself for Felicity’s wrath.

That’s not what he got. Instead, he got a dejected sigh and a very small ‘okay’.

‘But do you know anything about dresses?’, Felicity asked next. ‘Cause I don’t! I mean, the only dresses I know about are the ones mom wears to get her more tips at the casino, but I-‘

‘We’ll figure it out, Felicity’, Oliver laughed. ‘Now get your butt here, cause you’re making me breakfast.’

It said a lot about the state she was in, that Felicity didn’t even comment.

⌂∆⌂

He called his mother first, which directed him to a small boutique across town. All the clothes there were made by a young designer, but Moira assured him that they were lovely and not overly expensive.

While they were there, Oliver ended up skyping Thea.

She hadn’t met Felicity, but Oliver talked about her every time he was home, so there was no awkwardness as they started talking.

In the end, the three of them chose a simple dress, with a circle skirt that stopped just above her knees and with a triangle cut under the conservative neckline.

Felicity chose a purple color that Thea approved of, and his little sister recommended a pair of nude or black heels and a matching clutch.

Oliver paid for the dress, but Felicity got her own accessories. The shoes had a bit of a heel, but it wasn’t as high as Oliver was used to seeing in clubs, and Felicity knew how to walk in them.

When he picked her up the next night, he stopped for a while.

Because while the dress did look lovely on her, that wasn’t what shocked him, having seen it before. No, what shocked Oliver into complete silence was her face.

Felicity’s hair was up in pinned down curls, her usual purple streaks just peeking through. And she was wearing a lot less makeup than before, gold instead of black, and her lips were painted glossy pink.

‘That bad, huh?’, she said, blushing furiously.

‘You look amazing’, Oliver breathed out. ‘Really, you do.’

She smiled then, still obviously shy, but she easily wrapped her arm around his and let him lead the way to the party.

Oliver doesn’t remember much from that night. He just knows that he spent it next to Felicity’s side, politely shaking hands and smiling as she kept chatting with her professors and the various guests.

He also remembers feeling completely at ease in his tux and with Felicity’s clutch in his hands, as she ordered them burgers and milkshakes later that night.

⌂∆⌂

Laurel visited next week, and that was weird. It was close to the ending of term, and never has she ever visited him in his dorm room.

Still, it’s not like Oliver mind it. Plus, he got the chance to introduce Laurel to Felicity.

Which is exactly what he did. Just like with Tommy, they met at Oliver and Felicity’s favorite diner, and it was okay. It was nice. The girls seemed to be getting along, talking about classes and college and when Oliver excused himself to go to the bathroom, he thought everything was alright.

When he came back, he had to pause behind the wall separating the hallway leading to the bathroom and the rest of the restaurant. They sat down next to it, so Oliver heard what the girls were saying.

‘I won’t stand for this!’, Laurel all but seethed. ‘Just because I am miles away does not mean that you can try to steal _my_ boyfriend!’

‘I didn’t-‘, Felicity tried saying, but Laurel didn’t let her.

‘I saw pictures from that party last week, which you undoubtedly dragged him to! He is mine, do you understand? We’ve been together for years and as soon as we finish school, we are going to marry and he’s going to come back home and be with me. There’s no room for _you_ in his life, nor will there ever be!’

‘Laurel, I don’t-‘

‘And what?’, Laurel laughed, ‘Do you really think he’d ever look at you like that? At what, at your awful makeup, hand me down clothes and nerdy jokes? Please’, she laughed again, ‘he has better taste than that.’

Oliver saw red.

He marched up to their table and put a hand on Felicity’s shoulder, trying not to squeeze too hard, but he was unsuccessful, probably.

‘Get your things’, he said slowly, ‘We’re going.’

Felicity looked with wide eyes at him. ‘I’m going, yeah, but you should stay.’

‘No’, he shook his head. ‘Come on.’

‘Oliver-‘, Laurel said sweetly, but he cut her off.

‘No, I…’, he took a deep breath. ‘We’re done. This is it. This is the final straw.’

Her face fell.

‘I haven’t been the best boyfriend, I know I haven’t. But I’ve been trying. For the past year, all I ever did was try to make it up to you, Laurel, but you… You just take everything, and it’s still not enough, you still have to control me for more. I’ve had it.’

‘You don’t mean that, Ollie, I lo-‘

‘No’, he took a step back when she tried grabbing a hold of his hand. ‘Enough. I’ve had enough.’

He moved to grab Felicity’s hand, but she didn’t let him.

‘You’re breaking up with me?’, Laurel screeched. ‘For her?’

Oliver shook his head, but didn’t look at Laurel anymore. ‘I’m breaking up with you for me.’

He extended his hand towards Felicity again, and this time she took it, and Oliver all but ran out of there.

⌂∆⌂

He only realized they went to Felicity’s room when she pushed him down the bed.

‘My roommate’s out for the week’, she said upon seeing his raised eyebrow.

Oliver nodded, absently taking off his shoes and jacket. Then Felicity put her laptop in his lap, skype already opened.

‘You should call Tommy. Or Thea. I’ll leave you to it.’

‘Please don’t.’, he said, closing the laptop and shoving it under the bed, like Felicity always did.

She sighed, but she also mirrored his actions and sat next to him on the bed.

Felicity took out her phone and called Tommy, giving the phone to Oliver. He took it and put it on speaker.

‘I’m on my way’, is what Tommy answered with. ‘I just got off the plane, 10 more minutes till I get a car.’

‘Why?’, Oliver asked.

‘Sara told me Laurel was going to surprise you. I… had a feeling.’

Oliver didn’t question it. ‘I broke up with her.’

‘I’ll be at your place in an hour, max. I’ll even stop for some whisky on my way.’

‘No, come to Felicity’s. And uh… get me a pair of sweatpants? And a shirt.’

Tommy snorted, but he did agree.

‘Sleepover, then?’, Felicity asked when Oliver hung up.

‘I…’

‘It’s okay’, she smiled. ‘I don’t mind, quite the opposite.’

With that, Felicity hugged him tightly for a while. Then she excused herself to go to the bathroom, and she came out of it wearing a pair of shorts and a loose t-shirt, without any makeup on and with her hair piled on top of her head.

By the time Tommy made it, there was somewhat of a blanket fort built between the two beds in the room, and the pizza they ordered was still warm.

⌂∆⌂

Oliver was drunk.

‘You’re going to regret it in the morning’, Felicity told him. ‘You’ll apologize to Laurel and everything will go back to normal.’

‘No’, he said strongly. ‘I’m not apologizing. I’ve wanted to do this for a while.’

‘Really?’, it was Tommy that asked.

‘Yes’, Oliver nodded. ‘I don’t love her anymore.’

‘Buddy, I don’t think you ever did’, his best friend said softly.

‘Right. I just thought I was supposed to.’, Oliver sighed. ‘Supposed to be with her, supposed to love her, supposed to marry her and make babies with her and-‘

‘Okay’, Felicity said rather pointedly. ‘So you think this was the right decision?’

‘She was rude to you’, Oliver frowned. ‘I don’t wanna be with someone who’s rude to you.’

‘That’s sweet’, Felicity smiled.

‘Have you told your folks?’, Tommy asked.

‘I texted Thea’, Oliver nodded. ‘She probably told them.’

‘And what did Thea say?’, it was Felicity that asked.

‘A song’, Oliver shrugged, and handed his phone to Felicity.

He didn’t know the song, but in just a few shot seconds, it blasted through Felicity’s laptop. And she brought up the lyrics on the screen.

Well. Thea did pick a good song.

([Pendulum-Showdown](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6BKBIOtRXw))

⌂∆⌂

Oliver woke up in the morning on the floor, with Felicity snuggled in his side, snoring softly against his chest. Tommy was sprawled on Felicity’s bed, which didn’t seem fair.

But Oliver felt nice, with Felicity’s warm body against his, so he shuffled even closer to her and went back to sleep.

⌂∆⌂

Life went on, even without Laurel in his life.

Finals were soon approaching, so that’s what he focused on. Felicity was a constant by his side, a good reason to smile every day. He talked with Thea more often now, and even with his parents.

Life went on, and it was better.

⌂∆⌂

Oliver celebrated the end of the year by taking Felicity out to see a very stupid movie, and for icecream later. They fell asleep at Oliver’s place, and it didn’t even feel weird anymore, to join Felicity on the bed.

⌂∆⌂

They texted a lot when summer started and there were 1000 miles between them. They skyped too, some days, but Oliver still missed her.

He was surprised, by how much he missed Felicity. And for some reason, he couldn’t find it in himself, to ask her if he could visit.

⌂∆⌂

They were half way through the summer vacation when it happened.

‘Oliver’, his mother sighed at him over the dinner table, ‘I think you can stop texting Felicity the half hour it takes us to eat.’

He put the phone away, albeit reluctantly.

‘You’ve been texting her a lot’, Thea said, something weird in her voice.

Oliver didn’t answer, because he didn’t want to hear her teasing him again. Thea and Felicity, they always teased him.

That’s when the idea hit him.

He looked up at his sister.

‘Hey, Thea. Wanna go to Vegas?’

‘Oliver!’, his mother yelped, ‘she’s not old enough to gamble!’

He blinked at her. ‘I wasn’t… I just wanted Thea to meet Felicity.’

Everybody stared at him. Until Thea said ‘sure’.

⌂∆⌂

Oliver didn’t tell her.

But on the day Thea and him got to Vegas, he knew for certain that Felcity was home alone, her mother working a double shift.

So when they got on the plane, he told Felicity that he might not answer her texts too soon, because he was going to spend some time with Thea.

And after they checked into their hotel, he drove to Felicity’s place.

It took a couple of long seconds for her to open the door, and once again, like at that party months ago, Oliver paused.

Felicity wasn’t wearing anything special this time. Just her usual pajama attire, a pair of shorts and a loose tshirt, with her head piled on top of her head.

But it’s been 6 weeks since they’ve seen each other, and Oliver _missed her_.

‘You…’, she tired.

‘Yeah’, Oliver smiled.

Felicity turned to Thea. ‘And you…’

‘Hi’, Thea smiled. ‘Nice to finally meet you.’

Felicity wheezed out, turning to look at Oliver again.

‘Here?’

Oliver grinned. ‘Here.’

Felicity screamed and jumped in his arms, wrapping her hands and legs around him, laughing in delight. He held onto her as hard as he could.

⌂∆⌂

They spent a week in Vegas, just… chilling.

At coffee shops and diners, in the casino Felicity’s mother worked, at her house and in her backyard, sometimes in Oliver’s hotel room, sometimes walking around the city.

They saw movies and ate a lot of sweets, the girls teased him mercilessly and Oliver loved every second of it.

⌂∆⌂

He got a long, strong hug from Felicity in the airport, and a short kiss to the cheek.

⌂∆⌂

Thea waited until the plane was in the air until she opened up the subject.

‘So are you still denying that you have feelings for Felicity?’

Oliver sighed. Twice.

‘No’, he mumbled.

Because he’s been denying it for a long time, he realized. He’s been denying it since that first day at the coffee shop, when she didn’t tell him to bugger off, when she didn’t walk away, when she gave him her number.

Oliver’s been denying it with every touch, every smile shared, every night they fell asleep in the same room, every hug and every kiss and…

‘I flew to Vegas for her, Thea. I don’t think I can deny it anymore.’

His sister grinned, bumping their shoulders together.

‘Are you gonna do anything about it?’

‘Maybe’, he answered, and thankfully, it makes her shut up.

⌂∆⌂

It’s two months into the new school year when Oliver finally does something about it.

He starts by asking Felicity if she’s seeing anybody.

The look she throws him would have been hilarious if his heart wasn’t beating so quickly in his chest.

‘When the hell would I have the time to date somebody?’, Felicity raises an eyebrow. ‘Between school and you, I barely have time to sleep.’

‘Funny you should say that’, Oliver swallowed. ‘Cause I was thinking…’

‘What?’, Felicity put a hand on his shoulder when he paused. ‘What is it?’

‘I think we should date’, he says in a rush. ‘I think that would be a great idea and I kinda, beyond that, I want it. I really want it. Want to date you. I've wanted it for a long while now.’

Felicity takes a startled deep breath, and then she stops breathing. She blushes instantly, her eyes grow wide and she doesn’t look away from him for a few very long seconds, time in which his heart was bungee jumping in his chest.

‘Really?’, she whispered very hesitantly, and Oliver didn’t hesitate to nod.

She moved slowly, then, but Oliver met her half way through. And the kiss was sweet and somewhat hesitant, but it was just as good as he thought it will be, and Felicity was smiling so incredibly widely when they pulled away

⌂∆⌂

Oliver wanted to say that nobody was as happy as he was but, honestly, Thea was giving him a run for his money.

⌂∆⌂

They started in Vegas. Kind of. It evolved in Massachusetts. By the time it got moved to Starling City, Oliver couldn’t even imagine himself with another woman by his side.


	68. Another abundance of tiny prompts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I enjoyed the [last time](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4884940/chapters/13007362) I did this, so here we go again.  
> 10 mini-prompts, all adding up to almost 6k words, in the hopes I'll be able to write better from now on :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> trigger warning for the second one. Felicity has a panic attack as she remembers when she was raped.

 

> **[@KiarniCecilia](http://archiveofourown.org/users/KiarniCecilia/pseuds/KiarniCecilia) asked:** **I NEED something where Oliver gets injected with a drug that makes him babble. Like, Felicity level babble. And like, he babbles about his time away and about all the torture and stuff, but he can't stop. A good mix of crack and angst would be great, but I'm not picky :)**

‘Are you okay?’, Felicity asked, concern evident.

‘I’m great!’, Oliver yelped.

He honest-to-god yelped. He was sitting in a chair at the table in the bunker. He was actually sitting cross-legged on the chair, grinning up at them.

It was such a weird sight.

‘I’m hungry’, he said next. ‘Is there any chocolate?’

Felicity paused. ‘Oliver, you don’t like chocolate.’

‘Of course I like chocolate’, he scoffed. ‘I just don’t eat it cause it sets on my tummy and you like my tummy being stiff.’

There was a loud groan heard over the bunker, and it probably came from Thea.

Felicity turned to her, helplessly, but whatever she was going to say was interrupted by Oliver.

‘I remember when Waller gave me some chocolate. I finished torturing two bad guys for her and one of them accidentally died. That was some good chocolate.’, he grinned. ‘I ate it all by myself!’

‘That’s… nice’, Felicity said. ‘How about we put you on some saline?’, she turned to Digg. ‘Maybe it’ll flush the drug out faster?’

Digg nodded, and motioned for Thea to grab it.

‘Hey, Oliver’, he said somewhat carefully. ‘When did that happen? With Waller?’

Oliver frowned, running a finger over his nose. ‘Two? Three years in.’

Digg shared a long look with Felicity, but neither of them said anything.

Thea came back with the saline, and she started hooking the IV in Oliver’s hand.

He grinned up at her, somewhat lazily, and he starts saying ‘Speedy’ over and over again, in a very soft voice.

‘That’s me, Oliver’, Thea chucked. ‘We all know that, no need to keep saying it.’

‘I’m so proud of you’, Oliver beamed up at her. ‘You’re so pretty and strong and you can kick ass and shoot my arrows and you’re just so cool!’

‘Why thank you, big brother’, Thea snickered.

‘You remind me of Shado’.

Felicity sighed.

‘Who’s Shado?’, Thea asked.

‘She was my girlfriend on the island’, Oliver grinned, before frowning. ‘She died, so that Sara could live. Slade didn’t like that.’

Nobody said anything, and Oliver grinned again.

‘She’s proud of me! And she would’ve liked you!’

‘That’s nice, Oliver’, Thea said weakly, moving away since she was done with setting up the IV.

Oliver looked to Felicity again.

‘I love you!’, he said strongly, grinning widely.

Felicity smiled. ‘I love you too, you know that.’

‘Yup!’, he beamed. ‘Never thought you would.’

Oliver laughed then. ‘You should’ve died by now, or leave me.’

‘But I didn’t’, Felicity managed to say.

‘But you didn’t!’, he beamed. ‘Maybe we can be happy! Maybe I won’t get any more scars to remember you after you’re gone.’

Felicity was fighting back tears, by this point. Still, she grabbed Oliver’s hand and squeezed it tightly.

‘I’m not going anywhere’, she said as strongly as she could, and Oliver beamed at her, wrapping an arm around her waist and manhandling her until she was sitting in his lap.

‘Felicity’, he pushed his face into the crook of his neck. ‘I’m not feeling so good.’

‘Maybe you could take a nap, Oliver.’, Digg suggested.

He mumbled something that Felicity couldn’t pick up, but then he placed a soft kiss to her temple.

‘You’ll be here when I wake up?’

‘I’ll always be here when you wake up’, Felicity said, warmly. She also got up and lead him to the bed they kept in the corner of the bunker.

Oliver fell asleep mumbling in Russian.

 

 

 

> **[@CEOPepperPotts](http://archiveofourown.org/users/CEOPepperPotts/pseuds/CEOPepperPotts) asked: Can you do something dark like felicity had been raped as a child but now the team wants her to go to another club by herself to get information and she says ok because she doesn't want them to know about it but after she gets the info she runs out because of a guy getting rough and has a full blown panic attack while the comms are still on so the team hears everything she says.**

Oliver stood frozen in place, bow hanging loosely by his side, as he listened to Felicity.

She was in the club, waiting for the best moment to gather their intel, and she was doing really well. Until now.

Now, an asshole showed up, and he started chatting her up with sleazy pickup lines. Felicity kept refusing, on and on, but the guy didn’t stop.

It all happened in a blur. Next thing he was aware of was Felicity screaming ‘No, don’t touch me!’, and then there was silence.

He saw her on the video filled, tracked her to the hallway leading to the bathrooms, and he saw her ducking into a door that said ‘employees only’.

Oliver shared a look with Digg, they were both in the back of the van.

Digg wordlessly stood up and started taking off his suit, but he stopped when they heard Felicity’s voice.

It was meek, whispered, her breath haggard.

‘He didn’t hurt you, he didn’t hurt you, you’re okay, you’re okay.’

She kept saying it over and over again, and Oliver’s heart broke. He didn’t know what was happening, but he had an idea and it was horrible.

Digg snapped him out of it, all but yelling at Oliver to take off his hood and go to her.

He did. He was out of his suit in record time, and he barely paused when Digg gave him a gun. He put it into the back of his jeans and he ran.

Felicity screamed when the door opened, and she froze when she saw that it was Oliver.

‘It’s just me’, he said as soothingly as possible, closing the door behind himself and fumbling until he found a light switch.

Felicity was on the ground, her knees up to her chest. She was pale, she was crying and she was shaking.

His heart broke, right then and there.

‘It’s okay’, he soothed, making his way towards her. ‘You’re okay.’

He kneeled in front of her, and Felicity flinched. Oliver couldn’t stop to think how much that hurt him.

‘I’m not going to touch you, Felicity’, he told her around a smile. ‘I promise, okay? You’re alright, it’s just me.’

‘I’m sorry’, Felicity gasped. ‘I’m sorry, sorry, so sorry.’

‘Hey, hey’, he tried to get her attention. ‘It’s okay, don’t think about it now.’

That didn’t help.

‘Felicity’, he tried again. ‘Breathe with me, okay?’

She stopped talking at that, looking at Oliver with big, wet eyes.

‘Look at my chest, okay?’, he went on, putting his hand there. ‘Try to do what I’m doing, in and out.’

Felicity tried, she tried her best, and for a couple of minutes, the only sounds heard were those of her labored breathing.

But she did manage to calm down. A bit. She was still crying, and shaking slightly, but she was breathing okay.

‘Do you think you can stand up? The club’s still crowded, but’, he shook his head, ‘maybe we could go out a window in the bathroom. Or-‘

‘No’, Felicity shook her head. ‘I wanna-‘, she took a deep, shaky breath, ‘I want to tell you.’

Oliver sighed. ‘You don’t have to, Felicity.’

‘No, I-‘

‘Felicity’, he said a bit more strongly. ‘You don’t need to… relieve that again, okay? Not now, not with me. You need to take a deep breath, and get yourself together enough for me to get you out of here.’

She broke then. Started crying harder, and threw herself into Oliver’s arms.

He didn’t hesitate to hold her. Oliver wrapped his arms around her, enveloping her completely, but she was still pushing. So Oliver sat down on the ground, leaned back against a wall and gently moved Felicity, until she was sitting on his lap, with her legs wrapped around his waist.

She cried. And cried, and cried, and Oliver held her through it. He didn’t talk. He just said her name every now and then and ran his fingers through her hair and her back.

Felicity kept crying, but her shaking stopped, at some point.

‘Oliver’, Digg said softly in both their ears. ‘The club’s closed.’

He honestly didn’t realize so much time had passed.

‘There’s a nice waitress waiting outside the door’, Digg went on. ‘With a glass of water and a blanket. Can she come in?’

Oliver looked to Felicity.

She took a deep breath, nodded, and started getting up. He helped her, but didn’t let go of her fully as he told Digg to let her in.

The woman was kind, she smiled at Felicity and let Oliver wrap her in the blanket before helping her drink the water.

‘Come on, sweetie’, she said. ‘You should let your friends get you home. I bet your bed sounds real good right now, doesn’t it?’

Felicity nodded, wrapping her fingers tightly against Oliver’s, and he barely stopped to thank the waitress before taking Felicity out of there.

→

In the end, she didn’t tell Oliver what happened. Instead, Felicity showed him the police report. He read about the guy who raped her in highschool, he saw pictures of her injuries, he saw that the guy’s sentence will be coming to an end in a month.

He didn’t tell Felicity, but the guy that raped her… He won’t be walking again.

 

  

> **Anon asked: You're not taking prompts, I know. But I need this, and I know you need this, too.[State Farm "Never" commercial](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1Z91YkPatw). **

It happened, from time to time, for Oliver to be wrong. But there were five moments in his life, when Oliver said never and he has never ever been as wrong as he was then.

**_→One_ **

‘I’m never breaking up with Laurel.’

He was serious, but Tommy started laughing. A lot. A whole lot. There were tears in his eyes. Oliver frowned.

‘You’re drunk, man’, Tommy said. ‘Here, have some water.’

Olive dropped it. He’ll explain when he’s sober.

**_→Two_ **

‘No, Felicity, we are never getting a couch in the Foundry!’

‘But-‘

‘No’, he said with finality. ‘This is not a lounge, this is our base of operations, our place of work. It’s not supposed to be… cozy.’

‘Fine’, Felicity rolled his eyes, turning her back to him.

Somehow, Oliver knew that wasn’t the end of it.

And sure enough, two months later, he came in late, very late at night after a patrol, and Felicity was sleeping on a couch that wasn’t there before.

It was green.

**_→Three_ **

‘Thea’, Oliver smirked, ‘I’m your big brother, I am never going to approve of any of your boyfriends.’

It took a while for life to prove him wrong, a couple of years, actually. But sitting in a tux next to Thea’s future husband, watching her walk down the aisle looking stunning in white, yes, Oliver has been proven wrong.

**_→Four_ **

‘Felicity’, Oliver smiled patiently, ‘I love you, but trust me when I tell you that I will never go on a double date.’

She huffed, pouting, but she let it drop. For a while. A couple of months.

And then Oliver found himself in a nice little Italian restaurant in Central City, Felicity by his side, with Barry and Iris in front of them and Caitlin and Cisco to his other side.

‘It’s not technically a double date’, Felicity whispered to him at some point.

Olive rolled his eyes.

**_→Five_ **

‘I… have accepted the fact that I’m never going to be happy.’

Digg threw him a look.

‘She broke up with me, Digg’, Oliver sighed. ‘Rightfully so.’

Digg huffed. ‘That’s bullshit and you know it. And I know it, and Felicity knows it, and everybody else knows it. She just needs time.’

Oliver didn’t believe him, but Digg turned out to be right, and he turned out to be wrong. Because Felicity did come back to him.

**_→Plus one_ **

Oliver wrapped his hands around Felicity’s body, snuggling further into her and into the plush pillows.

She smiled against his skin, bumping their brand new wedding rings together, sweetly calling him ‘husband.’

‘I’m never letting go’, Oliver said, and this time, he promised himself he will never be wrong again, not about this.

 

 

 

> **K asked: (Think you can write a secretgenius!Oliver? Apparently this doesn't exist, so I thought I'd ask.)**

After Oliver was done helping William with his homework, he found Felicity on the couch, staring at him.

‘What?’, he frowned.

‘You’re brilliant’, Felicity breathed out, seemingly in awe.

Oliver snorted. ‘It’s just art homework. I stopped being able to help with math as soon as he got into highschool.’

Felicity shook her head. ‘That was amazing. How… How did you…’

He raised an amused eyebrow. ‘Know about Michelangelo?’

‘You knew all his paintings’, Felicity shook her head, ‘and you knew about his life, and his technique and just… how?’

Oliver shrugged. ‘My parents were collectors. Malcom too, so I grew up around very expensive, very old paintings. I was curious about them, at first, so when I started asking questions, my mother got me books.’

He smiled, remembering about it fondly. ‘And she kept doing it.’

‘That sounds lovely’, Felicity smiled back.

‘It was’, he nodded. ‘Art was the only subject I ever enjoyed studying.’

‘Why didn’t you…’, she hesitated, but Oliver urged her on. ‘When you went to college, why didn’t you study it?’

Oliver chuckled. ‘I can’t draw to save my life.’

‘Okay’, Felicity amended easily, eyes skipping to the fridge, where an years old drawing that he did with William still stood. It was awful.

‘But what about art history?’

Oliver titled his head. ‘Tommy had that idea as well. Dad wouldn’t have it. Said it wasn’t a proper job.’

‘Well’, Felicity gulped. ‘If you ever want to stop being a house husband’, she grinned, ‘I think we just found your new career.’

There was a pause, in which Oliver glared at her.

‘Her, Will!’, Felicity yelled. ‘You gonna help me get your dad into college?’

His son’s head popped out from the kitchen, half a poptart in his mouth.

‘Huh?’, was all he said.

‘Art school’, Felicity explained. ‘Art history.’

‘Sure’, Will said quickly. Then, he grinned, turning to Oliver. ‘Could you wait a year, tho? That way, we’ll both be freshmen!’

Oliver groaned, and left the room to the sounds of his wife and child laughing their asses off.

 

 

> **Anon asked: Imagine your OTP are extremely close with each other to the point where people often joke they are a couple already. Both of them are in deep, deep, deep denial about it for whatever reason. So whenever they do anything that is suspiciously reminiscent of what people do in romantic relationships. Aka: five people who thought Felicity and Oliver were dating.**

**_→One_ **

Oliver’s mother didn't visit him a lot at the office, but she was here today. His schedule was pretty clear, according to Felicity, and for the first time ever, she brough them coffee. And a tray of cookies.

He stared. Felicity noticed it, and she ro;;ed her eyes as she flicked his nose.

‘Your face will get stuck like that, quit it.’

Then she turned at smiled at Oliver’s mother. ‘If there’s anything else you need, Mrs Queen, I’ll be right outside.’

Oliver watched her go, somewhat between amused and disturbed, and when he turned around, his mother had a very particular look on her face.

‘You could’ve told me you were dating your secretary.’

‘Personal assistant’, was Oliver’s first reaction, which said a lot, really. ‘I mean, we aren’t dating.’

Moira rolled her eyes. ‘Of course you’re not.’

**_→Two_ **

‘So what’s the deal with Felicity?’

Oliver paused with his glass of champaign half way up to his mouth, looking curiously over to his sister.

‘I know she’s your EA’, Thea rolled her eyes. ‘But she does more than that.’

‘What are you talking about?’, Oliver frowned.

Thea threw him a look. ‘I’m pretty sure her contract doesn’t say she's supposed to fix her boss’s tie before a gala, pull him away from the conversation every time an old lady gets handsy, sneak him chocolate chip cookies that aren’t even on the menu.’

Oliver smirked. ‘I still don’t know what you’re talking about.’

Thea narrowed her eyes. ‘Just don’t screw it up, cause it looks like she actually cares about _you_ , not just about your bank account and ridiculous abs.’

Oliver frowned again. ‘She’s my friend, Thea.’

His little sister rolled his eyes, but didn’t say anything else as she walked away.

**_→Three_ **

When Oliver got to the board meeting, everybody was already there, of course.

Felicity intercepted him right as he stepped in.

She didn’t say anything, as she wet her thumb and ran it over his jaw. Ah, blood. Again. This happened often, so Oliver didn’t even bat an eye.

He wordlessly thanked her and went to his chair.

‘Miss Smoak’, one of the board members said before he could open his mouth. ‘What is QC’s policy about employee relationships?’

Felicity stared at the other woman for a beat, before blinking herself out of it and reaching for her tablet. It didn’t take more than a couple of seconds.

‘Relationships between employees are encouraged for the comfort of the employees, but they must be aware of the comfort of their colleagues and it must not interfere with their work.’

‘Very well’, the woman said coldly. ‘You two’, she went as far as pointing at Felicity and Oliver, ‘make sure to keep that in mind.’

Oliver opened his mouth to deny it, but Felicity cut him off.

‘Of course’, she smiled innocently at the other woman. ‘If the world ever ends and Mr. Queen decides he likes blondes, we’ll be sure to keep that in mind.’

She left the conference room without saying another word, and Oliver started the meeting without addressing the issue any further.

**_→Four_ **

‘Did you realize you just did that?’, Digg asked from across the table at Big Belly Burger.

Oliver frowned. ‘What?’

‘You put all your pickles on Felicity’s plate.’

‘Yeah’, Oliver said slowly, ‘cause she likes them.’

‘And I don’t like tomatoes, so…’, Felicity said, picking them out of her plate and putting them on Oliver’s.

‘Hey, you wanna share a milkshake?’, Felicity grinned at him.

Oliver rolled his eyes. ‘You always ask that, and you always say you’ll be too full to have an entire one, and I always end up not drinking any of it.’

‘So, that’s a no, then?’, Felicity blinked.

Oliver sighed and ordered them a chocolate milkshake with two straws.

‘Man’, Digg said, ‘it’s sickening how married you are.’

Both Oliver and Felicity stared in confusion at him, but he dropped it.

**_→Five_ **

‘Cisco’, Oliver raised an eyebrow, ‘why are you staring?’

‘Cause the last time I saw someone finish each other’s sentences like you and Felicity do, they were married for 20 years.’

Oliver rolled his eyes. ‘We just-‘

‘No, man’, Cisco shook his head. ‘Don’t even, I get enough relationship drama hanging by Barry and Caitlin all the time.’

‘Fair enough’, Oliver said after a beat.

**_→Plus one_ **

‘Hey, Oliver’, Felicity said slowly, and Oliver heard her hesitation.

‘I think we’re dating.’

He tilted his head, frowning.

‘I think we’re dating, without actually dating.’, Felicity went on.

Oliver opened his mouth to deny it, but… well, she was right.

‘Huh’, he settled on saying.

Felicity just looked at him for a while, and he shrunk under her scrutiny, but then she smirked.

‘Pick me up at 7’. She bent down and kissed him square on the lips, just a short peck, and left the Foundry with a bounce in her steps.

 

 

 

> **Anon asked: I would really appreciate if maybe you did Olicity huddling/cuddling for warmth kinda thing.**

‘That can’t be good’, Oliver said when a weird noise boomed over the Foundry.

‘Is that an alarm?’, Digg asked.

‘Yes, shit!’, came Felicity’s prompt response, that had them both running to her side.

She was typing away furiously, clearly scared.

‘It’s a snow storm. A freaking massive snow storm! Like… this is…’

‘What?’, Oliver asked.

‘This cannot be natural’, Felicity breathed out, and Oliver looked to her monitors.

There was a map of Starling, and it was covered in white, the clouds moving rapidly towards the center of the city, big enough to envelop other parts as well, the Glades included.

Felicity’s phone beeped.

‘It’s Barry’, she said quickly. ‘And it’s a metahuman, of course.’

‘I’ll suit up’, Oliver moved to go, but she caught his hand.

‘No way, he can handle it.’

‘But-‘

‘No, you’re staying’, Felicity said strongly and Digg nodded, so Oliver sighed.

Next thing he knows, Felicity is shutting down her computer and grabbing their coats.

‘Come on, Thea’s upstairs.’

Oliver paled.

‘It’s fine’, Felicity went on, tying her scarf tightly around her neck. ‘We’ll go outside, come back to Verdant through the front door, say that we were having dinner when the news came on, so we rushed here.’

Oliver couldn’t think of anything better, so he did as Felicity said.

Thea was rattled up, of course she was, sitting at the bar and watching the news. Barry seemed to be keeping his feet under him, but he wasn’t exactly winning the fight.

If Oliver knew him, and he did, the Flash was probably stalling until Cisco and Caitlin could come up with some piece of tech to take the meta out.

So, realistically speaking, they were probably stuck in Verdant for a while. Just as he thought this, the power went out.

‘There’s a backup generator!’, Felicity all but shouted.

And sure enough, the light came back on. For 10 seconds.

‘There’s a backup emergency generator!’, Felicity yelled and this time, when the lights came out, there were only two of them, above the bar, and the exit signs.

‘It’s going to get really cold’, Thea said, ‘and really fast.’

‘We should sit on a couch’, Felicity said with her thinking face on. ‘It doesn’t hold the cold as well as the floor does. And uh the med kits’, she looked to Thea. ‘The ones I got have shock blankets in them.’

Thea blinked. ‘They’re in the back.’

Felicity nodded. ‘I’ll go get them.’

‘Coming with you.’, Oliver didn’t hesitate.

‘And Digg’s coming with me to get the blankets out of my office. They won’t do much, but-‘

‘Let’s go.’

Two hours later, they were sitting in the middle of the club. They put four couches together, forming a long sort of bed, they were all wrapped in two shock blankets each, and the girls had a fluffy blanket over that.

And they were all freezing.

‘Hey, Digg!’, Felicity said. ‘You’ve been in the military.’

‘In the desert’, he deadpanned.

‘Yeah, but you have training’, she insisted. ‘So what should we do first? Raid the bar of snuggle?’

Oliver looked to Digg.

‘Both, actually’, John said. ‘Raid the bar to make more heat and snuggle to keep it in.’

‘I want whisky’, Thea said.

‘Same’, Felicity agreed.

Oliver sighed and uncocooned himself, heading to the bar and grabbing a bottle of Jack and a bottle of expensive Vodka for him and John. He didn’t bother with glasses.

Two hours later, Oliver was laying on his back on the weird couch-made bed. Thea was sprawled on top of him, Felicity was snuggled into his side, and on her other side, Digg was spooning her.

They were covered in all the blankets, but it didn’t seem to do much.

They girls were also drunk, and they kept on talking. It was mildly disturbing, because they started talking about boys. Exes. Bad sex.

And no matter how Oliver and Digg begged, they didn’t stop.

But after an hour or two, they did stop with the sex talk and went on to simpler things, stories about drunken parties or stupid friends.

That, Oliver actually enjoyed that. He also enjoyed the fact that his sister wasn’t saying things like ‘I’m too old to hold your hand anymore!’, which, honestly, he still remembered how much it hurt him when she said that the day she turned 7. She had no problem holding his hand now.

Also, Oliver enjoyed the knowledge of how well Felicity’s body felt next to his.

An hour later, the Flash busted into Verdant just as the lights came back on.

‘I’m sorry to interrupt’, he was panting, ‘but is there any way I can get a cup of hot chocolate?’

Felicity and Thea were both off of their feet in seconds, Thea heading to the bar and Felicity heading to Barry, wrapping him up in all the blankets.

Digg and Oliver shared a look.

‘Never speak of this again?’, John asked.

‘Speak of what?’, Oliver counted, and they both nodded in understanding.

 

 

> **Anon asked: I really like that[Superheroes can't be gay](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjALfA-ViEU) video. Is there a chance you'll write a chapter of PoG, when Felicity finds it and she likes it? Maybe they will be on a mission and they will hear her singing that song? Please! Something funny after last night's heartbreaking episode.**

The Arrow and Flash managed to save the reporter from the hands of the metahuman, but once they got her, safe and sound, it was about a mile of a trek down a hill. Barry offered to carry her quickly, but she refused, saying she needed the fresh air.

‘How do you two know each other, anyway?’, she asked halfway through.

‘Oh, we’ve worked together before.’, Barry said around a grin. ‘Yeah, we’re totally friends.’

Oliver stayed quiet.

‘Just friends… or?’, the reporter asked and Barry frowned.

‘Partners too, I guess’.

The glee on the reporter’s face was instantaneous.

‘Not like that’, Oliver grunted.

‘Like what?’, Barry was even more confused.

It took a couple of beats for him to understand, and he promptly blushed.

‘Oh no, nuh-uh’, he babbled. ‘Not like that. Not that there’s anything wrong about that, cause there isn’t, I mean of course there’s isn’t, but we, uh, we’re not like that. Gay, that is.’

Oliver threw him a look, that made Barry look down and mutter a ‘sorry’.

‘So, you’re really not?’, the reporter turned to Oliver.

‘No’, he shook his head. ‘We’re both straight and in happy relationships.’, Oliver blinked. ‘Just not with each other.’

‘Yes, totally’, Barry nodded along. ‘I’m very happy with my lady and he’s very happy with his lady. Happily. Separately.’

The journalist sighed, deeply. ‘Well, it’s not s good as I thought, but still, it’s gonna be a hell of an article.’

Oliver sighed. Barry grinned.

When they got back to the Cortex, all the monitors were playing an obnoxious video that sang about how superheroes can’t be gay.

Sometimes, Oliver hated his friends.

 

 

 

> **Natasha asked: Some team arrow hanging out, playing drinking games and generally having fun. The new, season 4 team arrow that is (olicity, diggle, thea, laurel)**

‘This is going to end badly’, Oliver said for the billionth time.

‘This is going to be great’, Felicity countered instantly. ‘Now shut up and make sure you don’t burn the chicken.’

Oliver sighed. It wasn’t that he didn’t like his friends, or that he didn’t like spending time with them. He did. He also enjoyed cooking, and didn’t mind cooking for five.

It was just that Felicity had boardgames planned after dinner.

And she didn’t know.

She didn’t know how weirdly competitive Thea got. Or how Laurel would get so easily pissed off and take everything as a personal affront.

And Felicity didn’t realize that whatever the game, she played it violently.

Oliver could only hope that Digg would have his back.

Three hours later, Laurel and Felicity were glaring at each other.

‘That was such a dick move’, Laurel said.

‘It was a brilliant move’, Felicity countered, ‘and it was completely legal.’

‘You did it to fuck with me.’

‘No’, Felicity shook her head, ‘I did it to fuck with Thea.’

Thea snorted. ‘Like it matters, I’m winning anyway.’

‘Not if I get a say in it’, Felicity countered. ‘Oliver, it’s your turn.’

Oliver looked to Digg. Digg looked to the front door.

‘Come on, Oliver’, Felicity said, a harsh edge to her voice. ‘Don’t keep me waiting.’

‘Come on, bro’, Thea said, ‘let’s not drag this out anymore, crown me Queen of this game already.’

‘Come on, Oliver’, Laurel said, ‘Play so I can get my payback on Felicity.’

Oliver bolted, running out the door as fast as he could, stopping only to grab his jacket off the hook. Digg was right behind him, and they both ignored the girls yelling after them.

When they came back three hours later, the girls were drunk, watching a Ryan Gosling movie.

Could’ve gone worse.

 

 

 

> **Anon: So I know olicity prompts are closed but I just wanted to submit this before I forget: college au pregnancy scare**

‘Hey, it’s going to be okay.’, Oliver said softly. ‘Whatever happens, it’s going to be okay.’

‘How?!’, Felicity screeched. ‘How is this going to be okay?! We can’t have a baby, are you insane?’

She got off the bed they were staying on and started pacing around her tiny dorm room.

‘We’re still in school, for Christ’s sake! We’ve only been dating a couple of weeks! Our parents don’t even know we’re dating, how are we-‘

Her face fell. ‘Oh god, our parents. My mother is going to be obnoxiously ecstatic and your parents.. .they’re going to hate me. They’re going to hate me and they’re going to disown you and then we’ll be left with no money and we’d have to move in with my mother in Vegas and Vegas is no place to raise a child, Oliver!’, she ended up screaming. ‘I should know!’

He didn’t say anything at first, he just gathered Felicity in his arms, and she went willingly.

‘If you are pregnant, then we’ll figure it out. We’ll take a year break from school, and after that, we’ll take turns. One of us will stay home, the other one will go to classes.’

Felicity opened her mouth, but he didn’t let her.

‘And my parents will most definitely not disown me. They’ll be pissed, yeah, but they’d also be proud that I’ve chosen to stay by your side. Because I am. If you’re pregnant, that’s what’s going to happen.’

Felicity kind of… froze in his arms.

‘I don’t love you, not yet anyway’, he went on. ‘And that’s fine, I know you feel the same. So don’t expect a wedding ring if you do turn out to be pregnant, yeah? But expect more of me.’

He paused, but only for a second.

‘Baby or not, I think we have something good here. That could turn out great, and honestly, I want it to. I’m going to do my best to make it happen. So what if we’ll have a baby? We’ll still make time to date and get to know each other properly.’

‘We can leave the baby with my sister, she’s going to spoil the kid. Or with Tommy, who is most likely going to be its godfather, just so you know. Or with your mom, cause, I mean, you grew up in Vegas and you’re not so bad. Not at all.’

Oliver kissed the top of her head just as the alarm on Felicity’s phone rang.

She made her way to the bathroom on shaky legs and signaled for Oliver to stay behind.

He did, trying his best to stay calm. Felicity was freaking out, he needed to stay calm.

Oliver couldn’t read the expression on her face when she came out of the bathroom, but she walked slowly until she was in front of him.

Then, she smiled.

‘I don’t love you either’, Felicity said. ‘Yet. But it’s good to know, that if we ever do have a kit, his or hers godfather held the campus record for the most keg handstands done in one night. Also’, she took a breath, ‘we’re not pregnant.’

And then she kissed him and really, Oliver forgot all about Tommy’s kegstands and possible future babies.

 

 

 

> **Anon asked: maybe a five times felicity said nice ass and one time Oliver says it back**

**_→ One_ **

Felicity always acted annoyed when she had to stitch Oliver up. He knew it was a rouse, knew she hated him being hurt, but it made things a bit easier, at that moment. Her angry frown as she was cleaning his wounds.

‘You know’, she said as she stitched up a cut on his lower back, ‘you have such a pretty butt, you should take better care of it.’

Oliver stared at her, and she glared right back.

‘And, you know, not fall on it as much.’

He nodded, weakly.

**→ _Two_**

Galas were the bane of Oliver’s existence, and the old ladies that frequented them were Satan’s children.

‘You’re overreacting’, Felicity snickered next to him.

‘That’s the third one who tried to grab my ass tonight.’

She giggled. ‘Well, it is a great ass.’

Oliver just glared.

**→ _Three_**

Sara and Felicity were just chatting in the Foundry when Oliver got there. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was the half empty bottle of vodka next to them.

When Sara’s eyes landed on Oliver, she grinned.

‘What about Oliver?’, she said. ‘What’s his best aesthetically pleasing feature?’

‘What?’, Felicity promptly replied. ‘Besides his ass?’

Oliver sighed and got them some water.

**_→ Four_ **

Oliver and Barry were pouring over the information Felicity and Cisco found, but he still heard her.

‘Hey, Caitlin’, Felicity started. ‘Is Cisco straight?’

There was a pause.

‘Mostly’, was Caitlin’s answer, and it made Felicity hum.

‘Make sense. There’s no way the guy who designed their suits was fully straight.’

‘Why is that?’, Caitlin asked, seeming genuinely curious.

‘Because their asses look _sinful_.’

Oliver turned to glare at her, and she had the decency to mouth a very not heartfelt ‘sorry’.

**→ _Five_**

Getting kidnapped wasn’t part of Oliver’s plan. Getting kidnapped with Felicity really wasn’t part of Oliver’s plan.

‘Oh’, he heard her voice, which meant that she was awake. Unfortunately, he was rather tied up, so he couldn’t turn to look at her.

‘Boy, am I glad to see your ass’, Felicity went on.

Oliver sighed. ‘You should be glad of the tracker I had implanted in it.’

There was a pause. ‘That’s what I meant’, Felicity said, faking innocence.

Oliver sighed, and prayed that Digg would come for them soon.

**→ _Plus one_**

She was wearing a new dress, and Oliver couldn’t help but stare.

It wasn’t a very special dress, quite the opposite. It was simple, all red, Oliver was pretty sure that Felicity had five more dresses very similar to this.

But none of those was like this one, because this one made Felicity’s ass look… breathtakingly amazing.

Oliver wasn’t going to mention it, he really wasn’t, but then Felicity bent over the coffee table, in able to reach for a file.

‘Your ass looks amazing in this dress.’

Felicity froze, then slowly straightened up and turned to look, incredulously, at him.

‘Oliver’, she all but screeched. ‘You’re my boss! This is sexual harassment.’

He narrowed his eyes. ‘You’ve been complementing my ass since we’ve met.’

Felicity’s expression cleared, and she nodded.

‘You’re right. Carry on!’

She bent again, and Oliver had to take a very deep breath. 


	69. Ages of love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _Hey, could you please do an arrow prompt in which they are all teens and Donna and Quentin get married so they move to starling city but Felicity is younger than oliver and everyone (like 4 years or so) so at first oliver finds her cute and they become friends but with time as they grow up oliver starts to see Felicity differently until they fall in love?_
> 
>  
> 
> _changed it a bit, they’re the same age. sorry._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so about 4x18 that aired last night... I don't care, I'm on my happy train! really, I wrote this entire thing today after watching the episode. I mean, don't get me wrong, I cried but... I'm a horrible human being, in case it wasn't established yet.  
> anyway. enjoy this fic. as usual with high school AUs, it got out of hand.

**→10 years, 0 months**

Felicity turned 10 on a Saturday.

She was woken up way too early by her mother, who had already prepared chocolate pancakes with bananas and fresh orange juice for them to eat.

Felicity also got a couple of new books, so she was excited. She didn’t mind that Donna had to work all day, she could occupy herself with her new books. That’s exactly what she did.

She stayed up later than normal, and when Donna finally came back, Felicity was properly shocked by her mother’s good mood.

‘I met the loveliest man today!’, her mother screeched. ‘He’s not from around here, but he’s in town for a conference. He’s a police man!’

Donna went on and on, excitement growing with each word, and Felicity acknowledged the fact that her mother had a date the next evening, but she didn’t care.

She never really cared for her mother’s boyfriends. It wasn’t like any one of them stayed for too long.

 

**→10 years, 6 months**

For a week, Felicity’s mother was over the moon happy, because Quentin was in town. She made no move to have him meet Felicity, and that was fine by her.

Her mother’s boyfriends tended to run away after they met Felicity, so she didn’t mind not meeting this one. He made Donna happy, and it’s been a long while since Felicity’s seen her mother like this.

After Quentin left Vegas, Felicity had to help her mother set up a skype account and teach her how to use it, because apparently, texting and phone calls weren’t enough anymore.

She didn’t mind.

 

**→11 years, 2 months**

‘What are you doing tomorrow evening?’

Felicity raised an eyebrow, because that was a question she had never heard her mother say. And Donna seemed … like she had something on her mind.

‘I should be done with homework by then’, Felicity said. ‘I’m probably going to watch a documentary or two before bed.’

Donna smiled at her.

‘Quentin’s in town.’

‘So you’ll be out with him’, Felicity nodded. ‘That’s okay.’

‘No, sweetheart. He wants to meet you.’

That made Felicity pause.

‘And I want you to meet him.’, Donna went on. ‘I think it’s time.’

‘Mom’, Felicity said slowly. ‘Your boyfriends tend to… leave after they meet me.’

‘No, honey’, her mother sighed. ‘They tend to leave because of me, it has nothing to do with you.’

Felicity wasn’t convinced.

‘Plus’, Donna went on, ‘Quentin has kids of his own. Two girls, the oldest one is your age.’

When Felicity didn’t say anything for a long while, Donna sighed.

‘I’m going to be honest with you, Felicity. Quentin and I, we’re in love. And it’s serious, and it’s steadily growing more serios with every passing hour. I know he’s not your father’, Donna sighed, ‘and he will never will be, not really. But it would really mean a lot to me if you’d agree to meet him. I’d like for you to like him, yes, but you don’t have to. I care about your opinion, so… let’s just go to dinner, yeah? And the two of you can get to know each other.’

In the end, Felicity nodded.

She was a ball of nerves the next evening, but they went to her favorite diner. Quentin shook her hand and didn’t comment when she ordered pancakes for dinner. Most of her mother’s boyfriends did. Instead, Quentin also ordered breakfast.

He didn’t pull a face when Felicity told him she’s very good at math and sciences. Instead, he congratulated her.

When she started talking about computers and about how much she likes them, Quentin laughed, but it wasn’t mocking. He said that he found computers too complicated, so he’ll probably have to call her with questions. That was okay with her.

Felicity noticed that Quentin didn’t once kiss her mother in front of her. They held hands and teased each other, but the PDAs were held under control. She appreciated that a lot.

Quentin also talked about his daughter. Laurel was Felicity’s age, and Sara was four years younger. They were nice girls, but so different to one another. Laurel was very social, her friends and their opinion of her were the most important thing to her, while Sara was more of a loner. She liked reading and watching movies and reading.

‘I think you’d get along well’, Quentin said, and Felicity shrugged.

She liked Quentin, he was nice to her, but she didn’t think it will get that far, for Felicity to meet his daughters.

 

**→11 years, 10 months**

Felicity met his daughters.

Her mother took them to Vegas on a long weekend, when Felicity didn’t have school and she didn’t have to work.

Laurel was the typical popular girl. Felicity knew it the moment she laid eyes on her clothes and the lipgloss she was wearing. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Laurel, they were friendly to one another, but Felicity knew that they weren’t going to be friends any time soon. Laurel knew it too, probably, but for the sake of their parents, they were polite.

Sara was shy. She kept to her father’s side and only spoke when she was asked. Felicity liked her, though. She was cute.

They spent the first day walking around Starling City. They went to the park, had lunch on the sea side, and then they went to a mall, where Laurel and Sara got new sneakers and Felicity got the new Harry Potter book, even if she had to promise to wait until they were back in Vegas to start reading it.

Quentin asked her specifically what she wanted to do the next day.

‘There’s a science museum’, Felicity said hesitantly. ‘I saw it online.’

‘Oh’, Quentin smiled. ‘I haven’t been there in ages. Yeah, that sounds like a great idea!’

‘Dad’, Laurel said pointedly. ‘Oliver’s party is tomorrow, you said I could go.’

‘Right’, he frowned, then threw her a look.

Laurel turned to Felicity. ‘My friend wouldn’t mind if you’d come along.’

Felicity shook her head frantically, she didn’t like parties.

Her mother put a hand on Quentin’s shoulder. ‘I could take Felicity to the museum, if you have to chaperone.’

Quentin snorted. ‘No, I don’t have to stick around. I’ll drop Laurel off and take you both to the museum. Sound good?’

Felicity and Laurel both nodded, but Sara was frowning.

‘Sara’, Felicity said, ‘what do you wanna do?’

‘I like science’, she said, and Felicity grinned at her.

‘So do I! You can come with us to the museum, we’re going to have fun!’

And that was that.

Donna had a minor freak out when the car stopped in front of the giant mansion Laurel’s friend’s party was held at, but Felicity didn’t understand it, and she didn’t care.

She had fun at the museum. Sara kept her hand in her father's, but every now and then, she’d ask a question.

Felicity was polite about it, raised her hand and waited for Quentin to give her a nod before answering the question, trying her best to make Sara understand.

It was a nice day, and when they got back to the Lance’s apartment that evening, Laurel was already there. They had pizza for dinner and Felicity went to bed early, because they had an early flight back home.

 

**→12 years, 3 months**

Quentin was sitting on the couch next to Felicity, while her mother made them dinner in the kitchen.

‘Felicity’, he said in a whisper. ‘Can I talk to you about something?’

She nodded, turning to him.

‘I want to ask your mother to marry me’, he said around a smile. ‘But I wanted to ask you first.’

Felicity wasn’t surprised, not really. Quentin was visiting a lot more often, and Donna went to Starling too. Sometimes with Felicity, sometime without her when she couldn’t get out of school.

‘What do Laurel and Sara think?’

Quentin seemed surprised by Felicity’s question.

‘They’re okay with it’, he said after a beat. ‘They like Donna, and they like you too.’

‘We’d have to move to Starling.’

Again, Quentin frowned. ‘We’d decide together.’

‘But that makes more sense’, Felicity argued. ‘You have a good job there, mom can get a job anywhere. And it’s easy for just me to switch schools, rather than Laurel and Sara both.’

Quentin stared at her.

‘It doesn’t matter, I guess’, Felicity shrugged. ‘As long as I stay in school, it’s okay.’

‘You’re a very smart girl, you know that?’

Felicity grinned at that. ‘You don’t really need my permission. But you have it. You make mom happy, and that’s all that matters.’

Quentin breathed out. ‘That’s it?’

‘Well I like you too.’, Felicity smiled.

They hugged at that, and the next morning, Donna had tears in her eyes as she showed Felicity her new ring.

 

**→12 years, 8 months**

Their new house in Starling City wasn’t incredibly big, but it was big enough.

The three girls each had their own room (Felicity painted hers light purple), the living room was big enough for everyone and the kitchen table even had a couple of chairs left empty.

Felicity liked it. She liked the swing in the back yard, she liked that it was within walking distance of a cinema, and that her mom and Quentin let her go there alone, even take Sara sometimes.

She liked that Quentin got her a mobile phone, so she could text him and Donna throughout the day.

She liked that Sara was not a morning person, that it was a group effort to wake her up every day. She liked that Laurel helped her throughout the first week of school, but kept her distance after that.

But most of all, Felicity liked that her mother was smiling. She called Quentin ‘husband’ and she giggled and they kissed in front of her and the other girls now, but Felicity didn’t mind it.

 

**→12 years, 9 months**

It took three long hours for Felicity to write this particular essay, and when she was finally done with it, she felt like dancing.

Instead, she went into the kitchen, looking to make herself a very unhealthy reward-snack. But Felicity froze, because there was a boy in there.

‘Oh, you must be Felicity’, he smiled at her, and she recognized him, somewhat. She saw him around school, always sitting with Laurel at lunch.

She took the offered hand, shaking it.

‘I’m Tommy’, he said. ‘Nice to meet you.’

‘Me too’, Felicity nodded. ‘Sorry to interrupt, I was just gonna get a snack.’

‘We have chips inside’, he pointed to the living room. ‘And chocolate and fruit and sodas.’

Felicity frowned.

‘Come on’, Tommy grinned at her, putting his hands on her shoulders and guiding her out of the kitchen.

‘Oliver!’, he yelled. ‘Meet Felicity!’

There was another boy next to Laurel on the couch, and she recognized him too. Everybody recognized Oliver Queen.

‘Nice to meet you!’, he smiled at her. ‘We’re playing Monopoly’, he pointed to the board. ‘Join us.’

‘No, that’s okay’, she waved him off. ‘I don’t wanna interrupt your game, I just came for the snacks.’

She sat down on the floor next to the board, and put some chocolate and fruit in a bowl. Felicity ate in silence, as the three played, ignoring her.

Sara shuffled into the room at one point, a notebook in her hand and a sour expression on her face.

‘We’re busy, Sara’, Laurel said.

Sara didn’t say anything, but she looked at Laurel with an incredibly betrayed look. The boys didn’t even look up at the younger girl.

Typical, Felicity thought. The popular people are way above helping a little sister.

Well, she wasn’t.

So she got some chocolates and fruit and she went to Sara’s side. Felicity took the notebook from her hands and replaced it with the treat, and she took them to the small table that was in a corner of the living room, that usually held their keys.

Felicity looked over the notebook as Sara munched on her treat. It was math, and it was clear where Sara was having troubles.

So as she finished her food, Felicity started explaining. Sara understood most of the lesson she was at, she just had some trouble with little kinks. But she was a smart kid, and she picked it up quickly once Felicity explained.

Still, Felicity kept by her side as she went on with her homework, making sure Sara didn’t make any mistakes.

That’s how Quentin found them.

‘I don’t remember having any boys.’, he sighed.

‘That’s okay, Mr. Lance’, Oliver grinned. ‘We have our own dads!’

He rolled his eyes, but Sara giggled.

‘How are you, little cupcake?’, he picked her up. Did you do your homework?’

‘Felicity helped me’, she grinned, before her face falling into a pout. ‘I don’t like math.’

‘It runs in the family’, Quentin snorted, pointedly looking at Laurel.

She blinked, innocently. ‘At lease we have Felicity to help us now.’

‘I don’t mind’, she smiled when Quentin’s eyes went to her. ‘I’ll need help sooner or later too.’

‘That’s unlikely’, Oliver said, surprising everybody in the room.

‘You’re smart’, he said looking at Felicity, blushing slightly. ‘All the teachers keep saying it.’

Felicity looked down, blushing herself. ‘But I _hate_ history. It’s pointless!’

Quentin laughed at her whine, and Sara giggled.

‘Okay, what do you kids want for dinner?’

‘Pizza!’, Tommy yelled.

‘Chinese!’, Oliver countered.

‘Fries!’, Laurel yelped.

‘Chocolate?’, Sara asked.

Quentin sighed, looking to Felicity.

‘How about pancakes?’, he asked.

‘For dinner?’, Tommy frowned.

‘Is there whipped cream?’, Oliver blinked with wide eyes.

And that was that.

Dinner was surprisingly nice. Oliver and Tommy weren’t as big of jerks as Felicity thought. They didn’t pay her much attention, Tommy talked with Laurel throughout the dinner, and Oliver, surprisingly enough, entertained Sara quite a bit.

Then, he turned to Felicity, and started asking her polite questions about school and about how she liked Starling so far and that was nice too.

When Donna came home from work, they were all playing Pictionary, and Felicity, Oliver and Sara were winning.

 

**→13 years, 11 months**

‘What do you want to do for your birthday this year?’

Felicity thought about her mother’s question. Last year, they all just had dinner together. The year before that, Felicity had breakfast with her mother before she had to go to work.

But this year, it was different.

Because there were people expecting her to do something for her birthday. Laurel and Sara, for once. But Oliver and Tommy too, who have been asking for weeks now. And Barry, her chemistry lab partner, and Caitlin from biology and Cisco from physics and John in English and Felicity had friends.

It was a new feeling. It was weird.

Her mother threw her a knowing look.

‘We could take your friends out for pizza or something. Or to an arcade. Or, if you want, we can have a picnic in the park. Or something cooler’, Donna frowned. ‘I don’t know what you kids think is cool these days.’

Felicity snorted. ‘Neither do I, mom. But… A picnic sounds nice. Maybe at the beach?’

Her mother grinned.

She actually had fun on her birthday. They played in the sand all day, and stuffed themselves with pizza and icecream and Felicity didn’t even mind that her parents were close by. She wasn’t embarrassed by them, she was just… happy.

 

**→14 years, 5 months**

‘I hate highshool’, Felicity whined.

‘I love highschool!’, Laurel shrieked.

It said everything about them, this interaction.

Donna was worried, understandably so. Felicity and Laurel were now freshmen, and while Laurel was thriving with her social status, Felicity was… struggling.

It wasn’t that she was bullied, exactly. Nobody laid a finger on her. They just called her a nerd, four-eyes, and all sorts of insulting names. It hurt, sure, but it was exhausting more than anything.

Laurel never intervened, and Felicity didn’t blame her.

She assured Donna that she was fine, and that she had her geek squad, Caitlin, Cisco, Barry and John, and that they were enough. Thankfully, her mother let it drop.

Three days after that discussion is when it happened.

Felicity was by her locker, getting her books sorted for her day, when Slade Wilson stopped by.

‘What’s up, nerd queen?’

Felicity sighed. Slade Wilson was a grade A jerk, two years older than her, that enjoyed calling her names.

Most of the time, she didn’t bother answering. Now, when she closed her locker and moved to walk away, Slade grabbed her hand and forcefully turned her around.

Felicity’s back hit the lockers and suddenly, for the first time ever, she was scared.

Slade, who was a lot taller and bigger than her, he kept a hand on her shoulder, keeping her in place. His face was very close to hers.

‘You’re not so bad, Smoak. You’d be even prettier than your sister, if you’d invest in some shirts and skirts.’

He paired the words with running his fingers over her collarbone and down her hips and Felicity was biting on her lower lip to keep herself from screaming.

The bell rang a long time ago, so the hallway was deserted. It was just her, Slade and Blood, his best friend, equally large and rude.

‘Let me go’, Felicity breathed out.

Slade smirked. ‘Now why would I do that?’

‘Cause I’m going to punch you if you don’t take your hands of me.’

Blood started laughing at that. Slade only grinned and moved both of his hands, grabbing her breasts and squeezing to the point of pain.

Felicity wanted to scream. She didn’t. Instead, she kneed Slade straight between his legs.

He groaned, falling to the ground in a heap, and Felicity ran. Blood cursed and ran after her, grabbing a hold of her pony tail and pulling.

She screamed in pain and then, Oliver was there.

He punched Blood in the jaw, and before Felicity knew what was happening, the three boys were fighting, and Oliver was losing.

She screamed as loud as she could, and then there were teachers, and the hall was filled with students, and she was crying, and Oliver was bleeding and they were all herded towards the principal’s office.

They sat in chairs outside of it, waiting for their parents to show up.

‘You should go to the nurse’s office’, Felicity whispered.

Oliver shook his head. ‘I’m fine’.

‘You’re bleeding!’.

He said nothing more, he didn’t even look at her.

The principal’s secretary called the nurse, though, and she came with antiseptic wipes and bandaids and bags of ice, which she gave to the boys.

Oliver’s father was the first one to come, and even though Felicity hadn’t met him before, he looked furious.

‘Damn it, Oliver’, he said, roughly grabbing Oliver and pulling him out of his chair.

‘Dad’, he yelped, ‘he _touched_ her!’

Mr. Queen’s eyes skipped to Felicity, and she tried her best not to cry.

‘I’m sorry’, she whispered, and Mr. Queen sighed at that, letting go of Oliver and pushing him back into the chair.

He kept glaring at Slade and Blood, until Quentin came.

The two boys blanched at that, because Quentin obviously came from work, dressed in his uniform. But he fell to his knees in front of Felicity’s chair, and hugged her tightly.

‘I’m okay’, she said.

He kept hugging her.

‘I kneed him in the junk’, she whispered, and Quentin let go at that.

‘Good’, he said slowly, obviously proud. It made Felicity smile.

When Blood and Slade’s parents came, they were all ushered into the principal’s office, and Felicity was ready to scream. Because the principal, while she kept everything professional and polite, it was obvious that she believed Felicity exaggerated.

Oliver looked like he was about to punch _her_ in the face, and so did Quentin.

‘Check the footage’, Felicity said strongly. ‘If you don’t trust my word, check the footage.’

The principal blinked at her. ‘We don’t have access to it, only the security company has.’

‘You want a warrant?’, Quentin deadpanned, and Felicity elbowed him in the ribs.

‘That won’t be necessary, dad’, Felicity said as strongly as she could. ‘You can easily get access to it, it’s just a matter of adding your computer’s ip address to the accepted list of terminals.’

Everybody stared at her.

‘She could help with that’, Oliver piped up. ‘She’s pretty good at computer stuff.’

His father slapped him, somewhat gently, on the back of the head.

After seeing the footage, there wasn’t much the principal could argue. So Blood and Slade were expelled, and because Oliver participated in the fight, and because Felicity technically threw the first punch, they were both suspended for a week.

But they came out of the principal’s office grinning, and both their dads seemed proud of them.

Felicity hugged Oliver for a long time, which startled him, because this wasn’t something that she did. She wasn’t a tactile person, and while he was one of her friends, she usually kept her distance.

Not now, though.

Now, she hugged him tightly, she tucked her head into the crook of his neck, for once thankful for the couple of inches he had on her, and she cried and thanked him over and over again and Oliver held her all through it.

They spent the week together, considering they were both out of school. Felicity insisted they keep up with their schoolwork, and Oliver insisted they’d go to the movies every day.

It was nice.

And when they went back to school, everybody stared at Felicity. Especially when Oliver and Tommy joined the nerd squad for lunch. Laurel hesitated, but she sat down with them as well.

By the end of it, Oliver was in a deep conversation with Barry over some comic book, Cisco and Laurel was laughing about something, Tommy and Caitlin were discussing their English homework and John kept chuckling under his breath, an arm thrown over Felicity’s shoulder.

 

**→14 years, 9 months**

‘We’re going prom dress shopping tomorrow’, Donna said, and Felicity winced.

‘About that’, she took a deep breath. ‘I’m not going.’

Donna frowned.

‘John’s going, but Caitlin’s parents are on a business trip. And me and Cisco and Barry were going to go and have a sleepover. Pizza and movies, some boardgames maybe.’

‘Are you sure?’, Donna asked, and Felicity smiled, nodding.

They all had fun at Caitlin’s that night, neither of them regretting that they didn’t go to prom.

Monday, at school, Tommy had a hickey on his neck and Oliver and Laurel finally got together.

 

**→16 years, 3 months**

‘Hey so’, Barry shuffled next to Felicity as she was making her way to her next class. ‘I was wondering if you were busy tonight.’

‘No, not really’, Felicity shrugged.

‘So you would uh, I mean, do you want to grab a bite to eat? Maybe a movie?’

‘Sure’, she said, easily, smiling at Barry and wondering why he was so red in the face. ‘Are Caitlin and Cisco up for it?’

That made him flinch, and it made Felicity very curious.

‘I meant us’, Barry said finally. ‘Just us.’

Felicity blinked. For a while.

‘Like a date?’, she all but squealed, and her anxiety kicked up a notch when Barry nodded.

Still, it didn’t make her say no. In fact, she said yes.

Oliver, Tommy and Laurel where in the living room when she was getting ready to leave and they stared.

Understandably so, really. Because Felicity never wore dresses, she never let her hair down in loose curls and she never wore any makeup, not even just some mascara and pink lipstick. And yet, here she was.

‘You look amazing’, Oliver said.

‘Why do you look amazing?’, Laurel frowned.

‘I have a date’, Felicity said slowly.

‘But you don’t date’, Tommy frowned, and she narrowed her eyes at him.

‘I date. Well, I would have dated if anyone would have asked me out before.’

‘And who asked you out now?’, Oliver asked with a hint of protectiveness.

‘Barry.’

‘Barry doesn’t count’, Tommy snorted. ‘You’ve been friends for years.’

‘So?’, Felicity bristled. ’Oliver and Laurel have been friends for years before they got together.’

‘Fair enough’, Oliver nodded, and Tommy did as well.

‘Well have fun, Felicity’, Laurel smiled at her. ‘I’ll make sure the parents squad doesn’t freak out.’

‘Thank you’, she breathed out, ‘but it’s just dad. I texted mom and I’m sure she freaked out already.’

Laurel snickered at that, and then Barry was there and out they went.

It was a nice date, Felicity thought. As Tommy pointed out, they did know each other for some time, and it wasn’t the first time they were alone. There wasn’t any awkwardness that usually came with a first date, or at least there wasn’t, until Barry kissed her.

That’s when the awkwardness came out.

‘This is weird’, Barry said, pulling away. ‘Is this weird because we’ve never done this before?’

Felicity shook her head. ‘I think it’s weird cause… it’s us?’

Barry nodded like he understood, stepping fully away from her.

‘Friends?’, he smiled, extending a hand.

Felicity grinned and took it, but she also kissed his cheek.

When she got home, Laurel was waiting for her, excited for details. After Felicity told her what happened, she said she owed Tommy 10 bucks.

Felicity expected nothing else, really.

 

**→16 years, 10 months**

Felicity spent her junior year prom wearing a swimsuit, in Cisco’s back yard. Caitlin and Barry were there, of course, and they all had fun drinking smoothies in the pool.

A little bit after midnight, Oliver and Laurel, Digg and Lyla and Tommy turned up, saying that prom got boring. They didn’t have their swimsuits, but that didn’t stop them from diving in.

 

**→17 years, 1 months**

When Laurel announces at dinner that she wants to apply for a scholarship at a law school in England, the parents squad is very excited. Even Sara seems to be happy for her sister.

Felicity was too, but she couldn’t help but ask about Oliver.

‘We broke up last week’, Laurel shrugged, ‘and it wasn’t a surprise, it’s been a long time coming. We’re still friends, but that’s it.’

Felicity is completely shocked into silence.

She waits until the next dinner to let everybody know that she wants to go to MIT.

 

**→17 years, 5 months**

Senior year is a crazy time and Felicity can’t wait for it to be over.

She forgot the number of times she fell asleep on Caitlin’s floor. On Barry’s couch. On Cisco’s back porch. On Tommy’s shoulder. With her head in Oliver’s lap.

At least she got into MIT on a full scholarship.

 

**→17 years, 9 months**

‘We’re going to prom!’, Cisco said with authority, sitting down at their usual lunch table.

Needless to say, everybody was staring at him.

‘You guys don’t usually go to prom’, Oliver said slowly.

‘Yes, but this is senior year and I already have a date.’

There was a silence that followed.

‘Sure’, Caitlin said.

‘Why not?’, Barry went on and suddenly, everybody was looking to Felicity.

She sighed. ‘Fine.’

Her mother was the most excited of them all, and they spent _hours_ shopping for dresses and shoes and jewelry. But in the end, Felicity did like her dress. It was simple and dark red, but she felt very good in it. The hells were almost comfortable, too.

Ray did ask her to prom, but it was half-hearted, because he knew as well as she did that they were breaking up.

And they did.

There was a long silence that settled over the lunch table when she announced it to her friends.

‘Great!’, Oliver said, shocking everyone.

‘I mean, awful’, he backtracked. ‘I'm sorry, really. But that means I can take you to prom now. If you want, I mean.’

Felicity thought about it. Digg was with Lyla, Tommy and Laurel were dancing around each other and going together, Cisco already had a date and in an unsurprising turn of events, Barry asked Caitlin.

She and Oliver were the only one without dates, and it would be nice, to keep it in their little group.

So Felicity said yes.

 

**→17 years, 10 months**

Quentin said the dress was too short. Donna slapped his chest and told him to shut up.

Oliver had a very long pause when he saw Felicity, but then he grinned widely and told her she looked absolutely amazing.

She had fun at prom. They all had. They danced in pairs, they danced together, they goofed around and posed ridiculously for pictures and there was a moment that will remain iconic in their lives.

The band was playing a horrible cover of _I can’t get no satisfaction_ and Felicity really didn’t want to dance, but Oliver wouldn’t have it. So he picked her up. Literally wrapped his hands around her waist and lifted her off the ground.

Felicity’s first thought was that the hours he spent in the gym paid off. Her second thought was to wrap her arms around his shoulders and hold on for dear life.

Oliver spent the entire song dancing with her, well, dancing with Felicity in his arms, yelling the lyrics from the top of his lungs. It was embarrassing because everyone was staring, it was hilarious because Oliver did not have a voice made for singing, it was terrifying because her feet were off the ground and it was interesting, because she felt good in his arms.

He drove Felicity home, because Tommy and Laurel said they were going to eat something before turning in for the night. Oliver lingered on the porch, and Felicity lingered with him. They ended up sitting on the stairs, talking for hours about this and that.

Felicity only went in when Laurel came home, and she did it only after she thanked Oliver and gave him a strong hug.

 

**→18 years, 9 months**

College was equally fun and exhausting.

She spoke with her parents every other day, with Laurel every day in between, she texted Sara and her friends every day, but she still missed them dearly.

So when Oliver just showed up at her dorm room one Friday night, Felicity started crying, horribly, scaring Oliver.

She just hugged him for a while, and then they went out for dinner, and when Oliver said he was going to sleep on the floor, Felicity didn’t let him.

It became a routine, that year. Every other weekend, Oliver would fly to Massachusetts. He didn’t have any classes on Friday and his parents were filthy rich, so Felicity didn’t even feel bad about it.

It was normal for her, to decline a date with some boy or another because she knew Oliver was coming over.

It was normal for her, to change her sheets before he came and let them on till the next time, because they still smelt like him.  

It was normal for her, to wake up snuggled to Oliver’s side with him snoring softly against her hair.

 

**→19 years, 4 months**

‘How come you never date?’, her mother asked her over skype one night.

Oliver’s face came up in Felicity’s mind, and she had to pause. She didn’t answer her mother, not really, but after she realized that Oliver really was the reason she wasn’t dating, Felicity decided she was going to change that.

So when Cooper asked her out for the fourth time, Felicity said yes. It was a nice date, so she kept saying yes.

 

**→20 years, 2 months**

Oliver found her crying, and he offered to kick Cooper’s ass even before she finished explaining that he dumped her a week after he told her ‘I love you’.

He stayed for two weeks, and he made Felicity smile every day.

 

**→20 years, 8 months**

‘Honey’, her mother said slowly. ‘I have a question.’

Felicity frowned, and cursed the fact that her mother’s computer didn’t have a better camera, because she couldn’t see her so well.

‘Are you in love with Oliver?’, Donna asked slowly.

Felicity didn’t answer, but her mother understood either way.

‘You should tell him.’

That made Felicity laugh, and switch the topic of conversation.

 

**→20 years, 10 months**

Felicity only got home for two days before she got the e-mail from QC.

Her first reaction was to call Oliver and yell at him. It didn’t do much, cause he was laughing, swearing that he didn’t do anything. But he agreed to call his father and ask, and after that, Oliver assured her that his father had absolutely no idea.

Still, when Felicity got to the interview, she asked. The HR woman seemed confused, but after Felicity explained that she has been friends with Oliver for years, she called the head of the IT department.

The man seemed surprised too, but he did explain that he was friends with one of her teachers at MIT, and he usually recommended a few of his students each year.

So Felicity took the job at QC. Oliver laughed for a long while, but he also took her out to dinner.

Laurel said she got a job in the DAs office the next day, and that night, Oliver took them both out to dinner.

 

**→21 years, 0 months**

Felicity had never in her life been as drunk as this, and it was all Oliver’s fault.

But it was okay, because Caitlin was drunk too, and Laurel was well into tipsy territory, and Oliver, Tommy, Cisco and Barry were sober enough to take care of them.

 

**→21 years, 3 months**

Her mother seemed sad that Felicity and Laurel were both moving out, but Quentin moved up her morale because he kept saying that the house is finally going to have some peace and quiet. Sara kept laughing evily in the background.

Tommy helped Laurel decorate, and Oliver helped Felicity.

After that experience, Laurel and Tommy finally got together and Oliver decided it was just about time he moved out as well.

 

**→21 years, 6 months**

Oliver didn’t tell her. He just showed up in her office close to lunch time, announcing that he was taking her out and that he will be finally working at his family’s company.

They had lunch together every day from that point on.

 

**→21 years, 10 months**

Oliver’s personal assistant, a young guy named Roy, asked Felicity out on a date.

She politely refused and freaked out about it to Oliver.

He was confused.

‘You like Roy, you always said he looks way too hot not to be a model. Why did you say no?’

‘Doesn’t QC have an internal policy about employees dating?’

Oliver looked at her like she was crazy. ‘No, it does not.’

‘Oh’, Felicity blinked. ‘Well, I still don’t want to go on a date with Roy.’

‘Why not?’

She couldn’t answer that truthfully, so she just shrugged. Oliver dropped it, but it was clear that he figured out something was off.

 

**→21 years, 11 months**

‘We’re going on a road trip’, Oliver said with authority. ‘I already cleared it with HR, you and me are going to Russia to run some checks on a new QC building.’

‘Russia?’, Felicity shrieked. ‘That’s one hell of a road trip.’

Oliver grinned. ‘Plane takes off tomorrow at noon.’

Moscow was a beautiful city, but they did actually have work to do, and it was somewhat exhausting, especially with the jet lag. But once that was done, they had an entire day just to walk around the city, and Felicity enjoyed it immensely.

Once they settled down at a restaurant for dinner, Felicity finally addressed the problem.

There was something on Oliver’s mind, clearly, and the truth was it was there even before they left for Russia. Every time she asked, he said everything was fine, but Felicity knew better.

Surprisingly enough, this time he nodded, and took a deep breath before asking her a question that confused her immensely.

‘Do you remember that time in highschool when you went on a date with Barry? Why… why didn’t that work out? You said it was nice, but it just didn’t work out.’

‘Uhm’, Felicity tried. Failed. Drank a sip of wine. Tried again.

‘The date was nice and we kissed, but it felt… weird.’

‘Why?’, Oliver insisted.

‘Because we were such good friends’, Felicity shrugged.

Oliver sagged at that, visibly. He looked dejected.

‘Why are you asking about this now?’, Felicity asked, going as far as putting her hand over his on the table.

It made him look up at her, and the intensity of emotions in his eyes shocked Felicity.

‘I was wondering’, Oliver said slowly, not once taking his eyes off her, ‘if you thought that… you and I would be as weird as that.’

Felicity couldn’t breathe anymore, so she didn’t say anything, at first. She just shook her head, but then Oliver turned his hand upside down on the table and intertwined their fingers.

‘I know it wouldn’t be weird.’, Felicity finally managed to whisper.  ‘I’m sure of it.’

Oliver grinned widely at that, and kissed the back of her hand before letting go and suggesting they try the steak.

When he kissed her on the plane ride back to Starling City, Felicity thought she had been waiting for this for _years_ , and then she felt stupid for thinking it.

But it was okay, because Oliver voiced the exact thought.

**→21 years, 11 months and a week**

‘Sorry, mom, I can’t really talk right now’, Felicity said into her phone as she was looking for her red heels, ‘I have a date with Oliver and I’m already running late.’

There was a pause. A long pause.

‘Quentin!’, her mother shrieked in her ear. ‘We owe Tommy 50 bucks!’

‘God damn it, Felicity!’, came Quentin’s muffled reply and Felicity started laughing hysterically.

She was very late to her date with Oliver, but once she told him the story, he forgave her. He would have forgiven her anyway.


	70. Dancin' in the Rain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leila asked for a Singin' in the Rain AU. This... is not exactly that. This is a circus AU, where they're both on the trapeze.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not gonna lie, I wrote a circus au for the marvel collection and i couldn't shake it off. sorry? no, i'm not.

Most people would be intimidated by John Diggle. He was an enormous black man, with leather pants and a completely unimpressed look in his eyes. He loomed over you, standing up after he invited you to sit down in a chair.

He was also the founder and current director of the biggest circus in America.

Oliver was not intimidated. He knew he was good, he’s been training on the trapeze since he was eight. 20 years later, he had a high number of shows and various freelance works under his belt, and some people in the business knew his name. All he needed was an opportunity.

And this was it.

‘I’m going to be honest with you, Queen’, Diggle said. ‘We’re not actually looking for anyone right now, but I’m going to give you a chance. You just have to impress me.’

Oliver raised an eyebrow. ‘And how am I supposed to do that? I’m sure you can google me all by yourself.’

Diggle snorted. And then he grinned, somewhat evily.

→⃝←

Oliver knew who Felicity Smoak was. Everybody knew who Felicity Smoak was.

Not only was she the star of Diggle’s show and the most beautiful woman Oliver has ever seen, she was also an inspiration to him, her routines being part of Oliver’s training regime since he was 15 and first found a video of her.

He didn’t expect her to know who he was, but she did. Because when she stepped into the tent, she faltered and stared at him for a beat with wide eyes.

‘Mr. Queen!’, she said without any introduction needed. ‘What a surprise.’

He smiled, as politely as he could, trying his best not to fanboy all over her.

‘It’s a pleasure to meet you, please call me Oliver.’

She seemed excited to see Oliver perform, so even though he didn’t really prepare something specific, he didn’t need to think about what he was going to do.

It was a routine he had perfected over the course of five years, it came as easily to him as breathing. It was also Felicity Smoak’s routine in the first show she did with the circus.

Oliver did it perfectly.

He was panting when he came down, and Felicity gave him a bottle of water, which he greedily took.

Diggle didn’t say anything, he was looking at Felicity.

Felicity was looking at Oliver.

‘That was one of mine, right?’

He nodded. ‘Older, I know. Your technique evolved a lot after it, but I didn’t really prepare anything.’

Felicity raised an eyebrow. ‘So you just knew it off the top of your head?’

He shrugged. ‘I like to recreate routines when I train on my own, when I don’t have a show.’

‘Well’, she nodded, ‘do you know anything newer? Maybe one of my pair routines?’

‘Yes, actually’, Oliver blinked, surprised. ‘Beauty and the Beast? Two years ago, with Ray Palmer.’

Felicity grinned. ‘Why don’t you catch your breath while I go and change?’

She was wearing jeans and a loose shirt, which wasn’t good enough attire for performing on the trapeze. When she returned, a couple of minutes later, she was wearing a skin suit and her hair was up.

Oliver was nervous, because he was going to perform with Felicity Smoak!!! But he was also focused, because this was his break. This was it, the opportunity of a life time, and he wasn’t going to screw it up.

And he didn’t.

He didn’t falter at the more complicated jumps, his muscles didn’t strain over the constant pressure and pull the routine counted for. His hands didn’t twitch when they first met Felicity’s skin, and it didn’t come hard to Oliver, to fake the emotion he was supposed to, the love the Beast felt for the Beauty.

There was only one mishap, at the end of the routine. In the show, Palmer and Felicity kissed. Understandable, considering they were dating at the time.

But Oliver didn’t find it in him to do the same, so he got close enough, but didn’t actually let his lips collide with hers.

Felicity smirked. ‘Stand down, soldier.’

‘I did’, Oliver panted. ‘And I’m not a soldier.’

She let go of Oliver and the trapeze without another word and gracefully fell down on the net.

He waited for her to get out of the way before he followed.

‘So’, Felicity said as he got to her and Diggle’s side. ‘I haven’t been able to find a suitable partner for me since Ray left. Honestly, we stopped looking a while ago.’

‘Right’, Oliver said slowly, because this wasn’t exactly new information.

Felicity smiled at him. ‘When you came here for this job, did you want a solo act?’

He shook his head. ‘I didn’t… want anything, really. I just want to perform.’

‘So you wouldn’t mind being a double act?’, Felicity insisted and Oliver’s heart was beating rapidly, not just because of the exercise.

‘Are you saying what I think you’re saying?’, he looked at Felicity with hope in his eyes.

She grinned.

‘What are you saying?’, Diggle deadpanned, and Felicity turned to him.

‘What I’m saying, Digg, is that you’ll be offering Oliver a job.’

Diggle sighed, but told Oliver to follow him back to his office to discuss.

→⃝←

Not only did Oliver get the job and a surprisingly ridiculously large pay check, but he also got a place on the circus.

Which meant worldwide traveling for 9 months out of 12, getting used to the smell of perfectly adequate hotel rooms, living off three suitcases and having more stamps on his passport than he could count.

And he wasn’t even part of the show yet.

He trained with Felicity, though, developing a routine, but the novelty of that quickly faded.

It was bound to happen, really, once they got to know each other and see each other in less than glamorous situations.

Oliver heard Felicity curse like a sailor when he accidentally hit her shoulder, he’s seen her first thing in the morning without any coffee in her system and he’s seen her late at night, so exhausted that she couldn’t even talk properly. He’s seen her get sick after some dodgy Mexican hood, he’s seen her wearing mismatched socks and at one point, Felicity did start apologizing for not taking the time to shave her legs, but Oliver quickly learned that he didn’t really care.

It wasn’t just him, thought, Felicity has been witness to a variety of tings.

Oliver got very annoyed when he couldn’t pick up a move from the get go, and he’d yell a lot. He was a morning person, which meant that if they ever had to stay up later than usual, it usually ended with him cursing anybody and anything that stood between him and his bed. Tommy came by to visit, sometimes, and Felicity would sometimes be there for the drunken night, but even if she wasn’t, she was always there in the morning for the hangover. He got a cut on his arm at one point that he completely ignored, and once it got infected, Felicity was the one to have to deal with changing the bandages once the puss started oozing out. She was also the one who had to deal with Thea calling her every time Oliver didn’t pick up his phone.

So yes, the novelty and excitement of working with Felicity Smoak quickly faded once he realized that she was a human being and while there were a lot of things he liked about her, there were also things that annoyed him.

Normally. They had a normal relationship, which quickly grew into a friendship, once they started talking about themselves.

It was Felicity that started it, out of the blue during a break during training, telling Oliver that Ray broke up with her because he didn’t think she’d ever be ready to settle down. He was right, Felicity didn’t want to stop performing while she could still do it, and she thought he was the same. Apparently not.

Oliver retaliated with telling Felicity the story about how the only serious relationship he ever had ended with Laurel giving back an engagement ring and saying that she couldn’t have a husband whose schedule and income weren’t reliable.

The next day, Felicity talked about her parents. Her mother who has always been supportive and who worked her butt off when Felicity was little to pay for the trainers and the costumes and medical bills, and who, when they get to Vegas every year (because Digg always makes sure they have at least one show a year in the cities his people are from), doesn’t let Felicity out of her sight. She spoke about her father, who left when she was little and tried to come back once Felicity made a name for herself, but she refused him.

Oliver talked about his parents, briefly. About how they were the ones to make Oliver take those first classes, but how they never thought it would get this far. They still didn’t, actually, they’re still waiting for Oliver to wake up one morning and realize that his life is supposed to be spent in an office with a view, running a company he doesn’t care about. He spoke more about Thea, the little sister that was the most important in his life, the only one who has always been supportive of Oliver’s choices, who didn’t judge him when he made a mistake and who never once thought he didn’t deserve anything and everything that he wanted.

Felicity talked about Barry, one of the contortionists. About how he is the best friend she has ever had, who will always have her back and who will love her to death. She spoke about Digg, who’s known her for well over a decade, who didn’t raise her, exactly, but who helped shape her as a woman, with a loving but stern hand.

Oliver spoke about Tommy, his best friends since they were in diapers, who was a crazy train that usually dragged Oliver along for the fun, but who would also jump into a plane and drive to the other side of the earth if Oliver texted him to do it.

They worked better together after that. They became friends, and more quickly than Oliver realized, he wasn’t just training with Felicity. He was having breakfast with her, and lunch and dinner, they went shopping together and explored the cities they went to, and every once in a while, they fell asleep in each other’s room, exhausted but both too stubborn to stop watching whatever movie was playing.

→⃝←

Tommy said Oliver had a crush on Felicity. He didn’t realize his best friend was right until Thea came to visit.

They were in New York for a couple of shows, spanned over the length of two weeks.

Thea didn’t call, she never did, she just showed up at his hotel room late one night. He was expecting her, though, so Oliver wasn’t surprised. He wasn’t asleep wither, still jet lagged.

Felicity was in his room, and Thea yelled in excitement when she saw her, bypassing Oliver completely, without as much as a hug.

She hugged Felicity, instead.

‘It’s so good to finally meet you!’, Thea said into Felicity’s hair.

She snorted. ‘We’ve known each other for months, Thea. It’s good to finally _see_ you.’

‘Fair enough’, Thea laughed, and finally remembered that Oliver was in the room too.

She hugged him tightly and gently kissed his cheek.

‘You didn’t think I was actually going to let you miss my birthday, did you?’

Oliver rolled his eyes and made his way to his suitcase.

‘Of course not’, he said. ‘That’s why I already got you a present.’

Thea screeched excitedly at that, and jumped in the middle of the bed when she unwrapped it. She seemed to like the earrings he got her, and when Oliver told her that Felicity helped picking them up, she…

Oliver didn’t like the look Thea got in her eyes. It was… assessing. And mischievous.

And sure enough, he got an explanation for it the next night.

‘52’, Thea told him.

’56. What are we playing?’, was Oliver’s quick response.

‘No’, Thea rolled her eyes. ’52 is the number of times you and Felicity acted like a couple today.’

He stared at her.

‘Really’, Thea nodded seriously. ‘I counted when I was there.’

‘What did you count?’, Oliver asked slowly.

‘Every touch neither of you realize was doing, every time you flirted, every small display of jealously, gallantry and every time you were, generally, just so married it was ridiculous.’

Oliver thought Thea was the one being ridiculous.

But his traitorous mind didn’t get the memo. So over the week Thea spent with them, Oliver paid attention.

It didn’t take long for him to figure out that Thea was right. It didn’t even surprise Oliver, really.

But he didn’t admit that to her.

‘We’re friends, Thea’, he told her, ‘and beyond that, we’re partners. There’s a connection we need to form in order to be able to perform together.’

‘Yeah’, Thea snorted. ‘Is that why Felicity was dating her last partner?’

‘It’s not like that’, he insisted, making his sister sigh.

‘Okay, I’ll drop it. But you know as well as I do that you’re lying.’

→⃝←

He’s been with the circus for about five months when Felicity corners him, very late one night over a glass of wine.

‘I know our routine is almost perfect, I know’, she started by saying. ‘And I know you’re eager to be part of the show, because I am too, I can’t even stand being up there alone anymore.’

‘But…’, he prompted when she didn’t continue.

‘But we’re doing _Singin' in the rain_ ’, she breathed out. ‘Without the rain. Why didn’t we ever think of doing it with rain, Oliver?’

He frowned. ‘Because it’s impossible. There would be no grip, slippery skin on the trapeze, and the wet clothes and hair would weight us down.’

She shook her head. ‘What if I… have an idea?’

‘What kind of idea?’, Oliver asked slowly.

‘The kind of idea that involves a friend of Barry’s from Central City. An engineer who developed a special kind of material, that’s very light, so when it gets wet it’s about as heavy as our normal suits? And who developed a special kind of gloves that grip onto any surface, even the one of a wet trapeze?’

There was a pause, in which Oliver stared at her like she was the second coming of Christ.

‘It works’, she said next. ‘I made Cisco check.’

Oliver snapped out of it. ‘I’ll pay for his plane ticket myself.’

Felicity grinned at that, bright and wide, happy and excited, and she jumped into Oliver’s arms. He caught her, of course, and he held them both straight, his hands on her waist feeling like they were made to be there.

→⃝←

Cisco was more excited than they are. But they worked well together.

And in the time that Cisco was there, Oliver got to know Barry, because he was constantly hanging around.

It was good.

It was so good. The routine they made together was something special, a very modern twist to That Scene from Singing in the Rain. But now, with this upgrade, their routine will not only be spectacular, but it will be groundbreaking.

And it didn’t even feel hard to Oliver. Exhausting, yes. Nerve wracking, yes. But … they could do it, him and Felicity. They were going to do it.

And it will be freaking awesome, as Cisco eloquently put it.

→⃝←

Opening his hotel door for Felicity wasn’t something new for Oliver, but finding her crying on the other side, that was.

It wasn’t the first time he’s seen her cry, it has happened several times before, during training, when everything got just too much and exhaustion was running its course. She always pushed through it, kept on crying but kept on with the training.

But now, Felicity was using a hotel towel to blow her nose and she was shaking, not forming any words.

Oliver quickly took her in, dumped her unceremoniously in the middle of the bed and hugged her as tightly as he could.

It took a couple of minutes for her to calm down, and a couple of minutes more for her to be able to explain.

‘Mom’s going to be there’, Felicity started. ‘When we do our routine for the first time.’

‘That’s great’, Oliver smiled, because he knew how much Felicity missed her mother. ‘My family is coming too.’

‘I’m terrified that we’ll screw up’, Felicity admitted.

‘We won’t’, Oliver said with conviction.

‘I know that, logically’, she snapped. ‘But I’m still afraid that we will. And this, this is a feeling I haven’t felt in 10 years.’

That made Oliver frown.

‘I’m always nervous’, she went on, ‘but this is so much more than that and I… I don’t know what to do with it.’

‘Do you think…’, he hesitated. ‘Do you think it has anything to do with me?’

‘No’, her answer was quick and strong. ‘No, absolutely not.’

It took a while for Oliver to say something else, and before he did, he forced Felicity to lie down on the bed as he did the same, and he covered them both with a fluffy comforter. He also turned off the lights and grabbed a hold of Felicity’s hand.

‘Here’s what you’re going to do.’, Oliver whispered into the darkness. ‘You’re going to take all that anxiousness that you’re feeling, and you’re going to transform it into something else. Into something strong and helpful. You’re going to transform it into conviction. Into the certainty that we well do this, and that we will do this right. And because you’re as stubborn as you are strong, you are going to do everything in your power to make sure we do this.’

Felicity took a deep breath. ‘Okay’, she whispered, still unconvinced but not crying anymore.

They fell asleep still holding hands.

→⃝←

The day of their first performance had a ritualistic vibe to it, even if they never did it before.

Oliver and Felicity didn’t have breakfast with the rest of the crew, instead they walked around town until they saw something inviting. It wasn’t much, it was just a diner, but the coffee was good and the pancakes were fluffy.

Then they jogged for an hour. After a quick shower, they went to the practice tent. They didn’t train exactly, they just did one rundown of their performance, with water and all.

It went perfectly.

Lunch was fruit, seeds and cereal, along with hot tea and orange juice, and they ate in Oliver’s hotel room, cross legged on the floor.

Donna was the first one to show up.

She was a whirlwind, bright blonde hair and mischievous smile and so, so eccentric. Different than Felicity, but Oliver knew that deep down, they were the same type of woman, caring and stubborn.

Oliver liked Donna, even if her low-key flirting made him uncomfortable. But Felicity was happy, and so was he.

When Oliver’s family came around, he met them down in the hotel lobby. Thea was clingy, hugging him tightly and not letting go of his hand, and his parent were better composed, but Oliver could tell they were just as excited.

Felicity came down, and she was polite when she shook hands with Oliver’s parents. Thea hugged her too, and brought Oliver into the embrace as well, and he saw his mother cooing under her breath and all but melting in a pile of goo.

He could relate.

They met Donna as well, briefly, and Oliver and Thea were snickering under their breaths, because their parents were obviously flustered. But then Tommy came, and the bastard managed to be the one to make Donna flustered and it was absolutely glorious.

But after that, Felicity and Oliver had to leave for the performance hall.

Once there, they had a general rehearsal, in which they didn’t use the water, but everything went well. After that, the circus had a routine, a ritual, really. They all met backstage, where Digg made a brief but strong speech and even though alcohol wasn’t allowed before a show, they all clinked orange juice glasses and pretended they had vodka in it.

It was nice. It was the first time Oliver felt like he was a part of something; he was doing what he loved most and he was part of something great, something amazing. And Felicity was a constant by his side.

Thea was right, so was Tommy.  He did have a crush on Felicity, but that was putting it mildly. It was more than that. They were more than friends, more than partners. He wanted to be more.

He also had to focus on the task at hand, which was rocking the pants out of everyone in that auditorium. With Felicity by his side.

→⃝←

They were the last performance of the night, on one hand because it was Felicity and Digg liked to keep the best for last, but also because the ring would be wet and unusable after.

Oliver could literally feel the pressure on his shoulders. His emotions were a mess, all over the place. Dread and fear, excitement and exhilaration, the need to make his family proud, the need to be good enough for Felicity’s reputation, the want to keep her forever by his side, and so on. It was a mess. He was a mess. 

Felicity grabbed his hand. She brought it up to her lips and kissed it harshly.

‘Oliver’, she breathed out, as the crowd applauded the performers that were before them, ‘I’m really happy you came to us. To me.’

He squeezed her fingers. ‘I’m really happy you let me stay.’

And with that, they went on the stage.

→⃝←

The crowd went wild when they realized Felicity and Oliver will be doing Singin' in the rain. They went insane when [the remix beats started](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmXHRnxknrQ).

They quieted down when Oliver and Felicity were lifted up on the trapezes, and for a minute, everything was calm. The music was loud, Felicity was smiling, Oliver was moving in complete sync with her and everything was running smoothly.

And then, the music stopped. For two seconds, before picking up again, even faster than before. The crowd started applauding, but they fell silent when the rain started.

Absolutely silent. Oliver could only hear three things: the song that was imprinted in his brain by this point, the rain hitting the plastic on the stage under them, and the beating of his own heart.

As Felicity jumped from her trapeze straight into Oliver’s arms, as he caught her without missing a breath, as the gloves Cisco made did their job and Felicity started moving along with the music, everybody went insane.

The screams and applause never really stopped till the end of their performance.

Felicity’s very last move was the show stopper, as Digg put it. That’s always how her routines were formed. This time, with Oliver by her side, soaked in water, it was an absolutely crazy thing.

It was a series of fast moves, impossible for the public to keep up with, that ended with Oliver hanging onto the trapeze by one knee, and Felicity hanging on to him, her legs wrapped around his upper arm.

They stood like that for a couple of seconds, making sure the trapeze was still balancing around the space, and the crowd went absolutely silent.

The rain stopped then. Felicity started climbing up over his body, and when Oliver followed her up on the trapeze, that’s when the crowd started going crazy again.

Felicity and Oliver went back down to the floor in a flurry of excited spectators and with their hands wrapped tightly together. Soaking wet.

He has never felt happier in his life.

→⃝←

Thea was crying, his mother was crying, Donna was crying, Oliver’s dad looked like he was about to, Tommy kept screeching uncontrollably and hugs were going all around. Even if Felicity and Oliver were soaking wet.

They all went out to dinner, and they drank, their families proud and Felicity and Oliver feeling the same.

It was a brilliant night. And even though the rush of it will not be as strong on the next performance, Oliver still couldn’t wait for it.

That night, he only got a minute alone with Felicity, in the elevator as they were going up to their rooms. They spent it hugging tightly, and when they parted ways, Felicity told Oliver she was so very proud of them. She also kissed his nose.

→⃝←

In the morning, they had breakfast with their families again, but separately.

Oliver went with them to the airport, and he promised to call more often, and visit any chance he got.

Before lunch, Felicity knocked on his hotel door, and she was carrying a teddy bear. It was small, but cute, with a pink tutu and glasses. It looked old.

Felicity didn’t say anything, not before she was sitting in the middle of the bed, head against the backboard and comforter over her legs. Oliver reluctantly sat down next to her, and he got to hold the teddy.

‘I wanted to perform since I was 5’, Felicity started by saying. ‘Mom got me this teddy when I was 6, and throughout the years, it helped me remember my dream, not stir away from it no matter how hard things got.’

‘That’s cute’, Oliver admitted.

‘I…’, Felicity took a deep breath. ‘Relationships were never in the plan.’

Oliver frowned at that, because they never really talked about it. About Ray, whom he knew Felicity dated for a couple of years.

‘When Ray came along, I wasn’t… He was a partner, he was a match for me, up there, and that was it. Somewhere along the way, that changed. We were lovers, but…’

‘But what?’, Oliver asked when she didn’t go on. He was confused as to where this conversation was heading, but he was also curious.

‘But we were never friends’, Felicity shook her head. ‘That’s why it didn’t work out.’

‘I’m sorry that you got hurt’, Oliver said diplomatically.

She shook her head. ‘I didn’t. When we broke up, I was … relieved. God, that sounds awful.’

‘No’, he shook his head. ‘It doesn’t. You don’t have to feel bad for your feelings.’

‘Yeah?’, she looked up at him for the first time. ‘Cause I’m feeling a little bit bad right now.’

‘What about?’, Oliver frowned.

It took a while for Felicity to answer and before she did, she took Oliver’s hand in his.

‘I’m ashamed right now, because I did it again. But I’m also… excited, because we _are_ friends.’

Oliver’s brain short wired.

‘What are you saying?’, he asked slowly and breathlessly. It made Felicity look up at him again.

‘I’m saying that I fell for you just as I fell for Ray, but the difference is that you’re my best friend’, she faltered at that. ‘Don’t tell Barry. But you are, you’re my best friend, and you’re my other half up on stage, and I really’, Felicity faltered again, ‘really, really, really want us to be more than that.’

Oliver kissed her, then. Quickly and without any finesse at all, but it didn’t matter, because she kissed him back. Her lips opened under his, her hands came up around his neck and it wasn’t new, these touched.

The kiss, yes, but her body against his was nothing new.

It felt like it, though. It felt like the start of something new.

And then Felicity pushed her body forward and every thought left Oliver’s mind. Every single thought.

Felicity moved to get on top of him, straddle his lap, but then she froze. And he froze as well.

‘What?’, he asked breathlessly and afraid of a dismissal, his hands tightening his grip on her waist.

‘Do you think you could maybe take the teddy bear out?’

Oliver looked at his lap, where, indeed, Felicity’s teddy bear was still sitting.

He grabbed it with a hand, reluctant to let go of Felicity, and threw it across the room. Felicity's eyes followed it.

She turned back around to look at him, frowning.

‘Maybe take it to the bathroom?’, she asked, innocently. ‘Belle’s known me since I was 6, I don’t want to tame her image of me.’

Oliver groaned, frustrated, and let himself fall back to the bed. Felicity climbed out of his lap and when Oliver still didn’t move, she poked a finger at his stomach.

‘Oliver?’

He grunted.

‘Uhm. You okay?’

He still didn’t look at her, his arms covering his face. But Oliver got up, and put the god damn teddy bear in the sink. He also took off his clothes.

Felicity’s jaw dropped when he came back into the room.

‘God, yes’, she breathed out, quickly getting up and taking her clothes off.

Oliver moved to help her, because, well. He was her partner, and that’s what partners do. Help each other out and slowly but surely fall in love, on and off stage.

Plus, he wanted to know if the way they knew each other's bodies and how they moved together on the trapeze translated into other places, like, say, a bed.

It did.


	71. 5 times Felicity lost her shoes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> and one time she didn’t. Asked by [@OhhMyyDarla](http://archiveofourown.org/users/OhhMyyDarla/pseuds/OhhMyyDarla).

**→One**

Felicity felt a lot of negative emotions during her life, but when Helena cornered her in her office was the first time she felt truly afraid.

And when Helena covered her eyes and tied rope around her wrists and ankles, that’s when Felicity felt truly, really terrified.

Oliver got there soon enough, of course, and he let her go. And a few hours later, back at the Foundry, he smiled at her.

‘You know, the first thing I saw were your shoes. I like them.’

Felicity looked down, only then remembering she was wearing her panda flats. Her favorite pair of shoes, that fit her perfectly, that were comfortable and fashionable enough to work with jeans or a skirt, the cutest shoes she has ever owned.

‘They'll have to go’, Felicity said gravely, and Oliver looked very apologetic, but thankfully, he didn’t say anything else.

 

**→Two**

There was a dark smudge on her right shoe.

Felicity didn’t know how she got it. Yes, she stayed in the Foundry for most of the night, and there was damage to it after the earthquake machine went off, but…

She didn’t remember the movement of her foot, that prompted that black smudge to appear on her right show.

After everything, after Tommy and Moira, after Merlyn and Oliver and Digg… She couldn’t deal with it.

As soon as Felicity made her way to her apartment building, she took her shoes off in front of it and threw them in the closest garbage bin.

There was no explanation for it, but Felicity couldn’t bear the thought of seeing that pair of shoes ever again. For good measure, she burned the clothes she was wearing as well.

 

**→Three**

‘Awh, I got puke on my shoes.’, Felicity whined.

Digg snorted at that. He also gave her a large leaf. Felicity wiped the puke off, scrunching her nose all the while and then Digg wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

‘Congratulations on your first jump. Now let’s see what this island has to offer.’

‘Not anything pleasant, I think’, Felicity pointed to the weird mask with an arrow through its eye that was looming over the beach.

‘Are you saying Oliver’s not pleasant?’, Digg deadpanned and Felicity glared at him.

‘Come on’, he smiled warmly, urging her on. ‘Let’s go get our boy.’

Of course, she threw the sneakers away at the first opportunity. There wasn’t any way the puke stains were coming off.

 

**→Four**

After the Count was dead, Felicity was still shaking. So Oliver had to hold her up, basically. His hand felt so very hot against her waist, but Felicity didn’t mind it.

He was close and after Russia, she thought it would have hurt. But in fact, it only brought her comfort. The smell of leather mixed in with sweat and that thing that was so undeniable Oliver, everything filled her nose and she pushed herself closer to it.

Felicity’s left heel broke just as they were getting on the elevator. Oliver steadied her, of course, and Felicity. Well, she just glared down at her shoe.

A laugh bubbled up her throat, so unexpected and borderline hysterical. So Felicity laughed, frozen in place, still looking down at her broken heel.

Oliver didn’t say anything. Instead he took her hand and put it on his shoulders, making sure she was holding onto it. He bent down on one knee and gently took off both her shoes.

When he got back up, Oliver gave her the bow. Felicity frowned down at it, but she took it on instinct. And then Oliver’s hands were under her knees and on her back and he was picking her up, going back on their way down.

She would have felt embarrassed. But more than everything, Felicity felt safe, his strong hands keeping her up and his smell enveloping her completely. So Felicity pushed her face into the crook of his neck, making him huff, amused, but he didn’t say anything.

‘I liked those shoes’, she said.

‘I’ll buy you others.’, came the quick response, and she didn’t expect anything less.

 

**→Five**

After Oliver had his one-on-one with Slade on the island, Felicity couldn’t just leave.

So she went down to the prison, Oliver and Digg close behind.

‘What do you want?’, Slade raised an eyebrow.

‘Come here’, Felicity said strongly, and the idiot actually listened.

He was smiling, amused, as he came to the bars. Close to them, close enough for Felicity to grab a hold of his shirt and pull until his face was pressed into the bars.

The moronic thing was that Slade didn’t even fight it.

Felicity took off one of her shoes. There were sturdy boots, with a bit of a thick heel , that her boys kept eyeing incredulously as they trekked onto the beach.

She said nothing as she pressed the heel to Slade’s head. She hit him 10 times with it, and she was silent, and so was he.

Digg tried saying her name at the beginning, but he gave up pretty quick.

‘You are a horrible excuse for a human being’, Felicity said after she stopped. ‘You say you loved Shado’, he flinched at that, ‘but your soul is incapable of love. And now, you’re going to _rot in here_ , slowly but surely realizing that you are dead inside.’

She let go at that, and Slade just looked at her.

‘Was the beating necessary?’, was all he said, and Felicity nodded, serious.

She threw the shoe in the other corner of the prison, took the other one off and did the same, and Felicity wordlessly left, her boys following her up the ladder.

 

**→Plus one**

Oliver undressed her slowly. He probably wanted to take his time, let the fact that they were _married_ sync in, but Felicity didn’t exactly showcase finesse or patience as she stripped him of the tux.

She put her leg onto his lap, thinking he’d get the picture and take off her shoes.

Oliver didn’t.

Instead he grabbed a hold of the heel and pulled, arranging Felicity until she was straddling his hips, her knees bent and his hands on both of her heels.

They made love like that, and at one point, Felicity felt bad that his hands weren’t on her, but then Oliver used his leverage to pull her legs further apart and Felicity really didn’t care anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys! At the end of next week I'm leaving for Italy (I'm so excited woohoo) and my schedule is kinda full until there. So realistically speaking, I'm going on a two weeks (ish) hiatus. Sorry bout that?!


	72. The Second Dark Archer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I was talking with [@normalisjustafairytale](http://normalisjustafairytale.tumblr.com/) and this came up: _What if on Earth 2, after Tommy's mother died, he's the one who went rogue? And ran from home straight into the League? And he was the one who turned into the Dark Archer? And what if he SOMEHOW escaped through one of the breaches in Central City? And he just casually runs into Felicity or something...._
> 
> Felicity and Oliver are still together, what are you talking about?! Set after The Flash 2x21. Also, remember how Oliver’s dad was the Arrow on Earth 2? Fun times.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm pretty sure you're getting tired of my bullshit excuses by now.  
> Truth is, I kinda hate what's happening on the show right now, and that gets me to not be excited about Olicity anymore, and that gets me into not writing.  
> I apologyze. I think it's best we'd all just accept the fact that this won't be updated as often as before. Okay? Please and thank you :)

Felicity winced when the e-mail from Cisco came through.

If he wanted to check up, he’d text. If he was bored, he’d call. But every time Cisco sent her an e-mail, something was wrong.

Sure enough, there was a video attached, and all Cisco said was _help_. Felicity played the video, aware of Oliver and Digg coming up behind her.

The video was grainy, some cctv footage, but it was clear enough: the Dark Archer was in Central City.

‘What’s Malcom doing there?’, it was Oliver that asked, and Felicity was quick to type away.

‘He’s not’, Felicity said, confused. ‘He’s in Starling right now, doing grocery shopping.'

The evidence was right in front of their eyes. Thea joined them, and she was quick to catch on, quick to join the general confusion too.

Felicity called Cisco, putting him on speaker.

‘So I guess you figured out Merlin is still in Starling’, was what he picked up with.

‘Yes’, Felicity said, slowly. ‘So that means what, exactly?’

‘That this Dark Archer is Earth 2’s Dark Archer.’

Thea swore.

‘The thing is, though’, Cisco went on. ‘We got some prints. And they don’t match Merlyn’s. I mean, they don’t match Earth 1’s Merlyn. I guess the same person could have different prints on different Earths, but it’s unlikely.’

‘So you don’t know who he is’, Thea summed up.

‘Nope. And, in all fairness, we’re a little busy at the moment.’

‘Meaning?’, Felicity asked.

‘Meaning Zoom brought a lot of meta-humans from Earth 2, and we’re working non-stop on stopping them, and stopping Zoom. Dark Archer, he’s not too high on the priorities list, he doesn’t seem to be working for Zoom, cause all he’s doing are bank heists. But uh, I thought you’d want to have a shot, pun intended!, at this guy. Considering you defeated him before.’

‘Repeatedly’, Digg said. ‘And uselessly.’

Oliver sighed. ‘One of us should still stay back in Starling in case something happens, but we’re on our way.’

‘Great’, Cisco sighed. ‘Thank you. You can stay at my place. Feed my cat while you’re at it.’

‘Hey now-‘, Thea started.

‘I haven’t been home in a week, King Whiskers might be dead already.’

Felicity sighed. ‘Goodbye, Cisco.’

She turned to look at the Queen siblings. ‘Am I coming?’

‘As you wish.’, Oliver shrugged, but Felicity knew better.

She spared a look at Thea, who just raised an eyebrow, and called her mother, letting her know she’d be out of town for a while.

→←

When they got to Central City, Felicity’s first order of business was to stop at Jitters and get everyone coffee. That’s when it happened.

She was sitting in line, patiently waiting for her turn. But Digg’s voice was grilled into her head, so she kept an eye open for the guy in front of her, because he was the only one in the coffee shop who looked suspicious.

His jeans were tattered from wear, not for fashion, his leather jacket had a couple of scrapes on it, and he was concealing his face with a baseball cap.

She didn’t recognize his voice, not exactly, but Felicity was certain she’d heard it before. Still, as much as she tried, she couldn’t get a proper look at his face.

But Felicity was sneaky enough. She pulled out her phone, faking her attention being on that, and she “accidentally” bumped into him as they were waiting for their cups of coffee at the end of the counter.

She started apologizing, and he waved her off, politely. But when he looked up, and she got to see his face, Felicity gasped, taking a step back.

‘Oh’, he froze. ‘Shit.’

It didn’t take long for Felicity to figure out what was happening. That this wasn’t Tommy sitting in front of her, not Oliver’s Tommy. This was Earth 2’s Tommy, and he probably was the Dark Archer, the person they were looking for.

‘Miss Smoak’, he said slowly, grabbing a hold of her hand. She didn’t move, didn’t flinch, as his fingers tightened around her arm. It was a threatening move, that looked friendly from the outside.

‘I assume you knew… me. Before I died.’

‘I know you’re not him.’, Felicity said, proud that her voice didn’t waver. ‘I know Zoom brought you from his Earth. And I know that I’m here to stop you.’

He smirked at that. ‘And how do you plan on doing that?’

Felicity tilted her head. ‘I haven’t figured that out yet.’

‘Oliver!’, the barista yelled, and Tommy let go of her, reaching for his coffee cup. That, above all, was like a punch to the stomach for Felicity.

‘Well’, he smiled at her. ‘See you around, hot stuff.’

He walked away, slouching his shoulders, but before he went out the door, he winked at Felicity, flirty and filthy.

She waited on her coffee, willing the tears she felt in her eyes not to fall, and thinking of the best way to give Oliver and Thea the news.

→←

There wasn’t any way to do that easily, so she sat the Queens down, grabbed a hold of Oliver’s hand, and told them.

Thea was furious. She was crying, sure, but she was angry at Tommy, for turning into the Archer.

Oliver was seemingly emotionless, but Felicity felt his hand tremble in hers.

‘We have to stop him’, he said, interrupted Thea’s rant.

‘Yeah’, she nodded, strongly. ‘But I want answers.’

Felicity didn’t think that was wise, but she didn’t say anything. Instead, she went to the Cortex and set the Star Labs satellites to look for Tommy Merlyn.

→←

The first two attempts to catch him didn’t go as planned, in the sense that they didn’t catch him, Oliver got a black eye and Thea a sprained wrist.

Felicity suggested she’d act as bait.

‘That makes no sense’, Thea frowned.

‘Well’, Felicity gulped, ‘it would, if you’d knew the way he looked at me.’

‘What do you mean?’, Oliver said in a slightly dangerous tone.

‘He was interested.’

‘Now that makes no sense’, Oliver pointed out.

‘You don’t know if it makes any sense or not’, Felicity said softly. ‘You don’t know what he’s been through, what his relationship to you is, if he ever had a relationship with me, if you ever did.’

She shrugged, lamely. ‘It could work.’

‘I don’t like it.’, Oliver all but growled.

‘I know’, Felicity smiled. ‘But you’ll be there to protect me.’

→←

Felicity waited for two hours in the bank after it close, before Tommy showed up.

He seemed surprised to see her there, but it didn’t take long for him to take off his hood and mask.

‘I knew it’, he chuckled under his breath, making his way towards her. ‘I knew you wouldn’t be able to stay away.’

And then, to Felicity’s complete shock, he kissed her. Sweetly, softly, gently wrapping a hand around her waist.

Felicity gasped, which he took as invitation, but as she felt his tongue against hers, Felicity pushed her hands against his chest.

Not hard, but enough to get him to stop.

He frowned down at her, confused and hurt, just as Oliver and Thea came into the bank. But Tommy didn’t see them, he kept looking at her.

‘We’re not…’, he tried, biting on his lower lip after.

She shook her head, slowly. ‘I never actually met you.’

He let her go at that, finally turning around to look at Oliver and Thea. They weren’t actually the Queens, Felicity realized, because they had their masks on, and hoods up.

‘Guys’, she said, ‘maybe it’s best if you lose the hoods.’

They did so, and it was Tommy’s turn to gasp.

‘Oh lord’, he said, clearly shocked. ‘This is so fucked up.’

‘Tell me about it’, Thea said. ‘Are we siblings on your Earth too?’

‘Yeah’, Tommy breathed out. ‘You and me.’

He turned to look at Oliver after, who didn’t say anything. He just raised an eyebrow.

‘You died, you know. On my Earth.’

Oliver nodded. ‘So did you, on my Earth.’

‘It’s funny’, Tommy wasn’t laughing. ‘Your dad’s the Arrow on my earth.’

‘Your dad’s the Dark Archer on my earth’, Oliver countered.

‘This is hilarious.’, Tommy shook his head.

‘It’s heartbreaking’, Thea said.

‘You don’t know the half of it.’

‘So tell us’, Felicity said, and Tommy didn’t turn to look at her. He clenched his fist and she saw his shoulders tens, but he lowered his bow to the ground, and Thea and Oliver quickly followed.

→←

Things were utterly different on Earth 2.

When his mother was killed, so was Malcom. Tommy ended up in an orphanage for a couple of years, before he stumbled upon a League of Assassins member one evening, as he was walking home from practice.

He was made an offer, and he took it, training with the League.

He came back to Starling after Oliver died on the Gambit, wrecking havoc as the Dark Archer.

Five years later, when The Hood appeared, the Dark Archer was one of the first he fought. They found out their identities then, and Robert let him go, with the promise to leave town. Tommy did, he went to Central City.

The news of Thea’s real parentage broke out a year later, but Tommy never sought her out.

(To this, Thea reacted with an angry growl.)

He met Felicity in a bar in Central City. They had a one night stand, but then they accidentally met again a week later. After that, they exchanged numbers and kept seeing each other.

Just for sex, at first, it took a couple of years for them to develop feelings. About the time she became CEO of her company, she figured out who he was.

They kept seeing each other. They weren’t together, Tommy insisted, they weren’t exclusive, Felicity kept having proper boyfriends, for her image, mostly. But the sex was great and they did care for each other, in their own twisted way.

(To this, Felicity reacted by looking down with her cheek flushed, and Oliver reacted with a clenched jaw and cracking knuckles.)

When Zoom started his shit, Tommy hung up the hood and laid low. It didn’t matter. Zoom didn’t ask for permission, he just zapped Tommy to this Earth.

‘But you’re not doing his bidding’, Felicity pointed out.

‘I'm not’, Tommy nodded. ‘I assume he’ll just find a way to make me do it. When, you know, he actually needs me.’

‘Why are you robbing the banks, then?’, Oliver asked.

Tommy puffed. ‘I’m bored, man. I’m so bored.’

‘Well it has to stop’, Felicity said.

He hummed, smirking at her. ‘You were always bossy.’

‘Dude’, Thea said, with feeling. ‘You know they’re engaged, right?’

Tommy froze. ‘I did not know that, no.’ He turned to Oliver. ‘Good for you, man.’

Oliver rolled his eyes, before leveling Tommy with a serious look.

‘We’re not going to let you keep on doing what you do.’

‘I gathered as much, yeah’, Tommy nodded. ‘That’s okay, man’, he shrugged. ‘I don’t mind.’

‘Was your Tommy this laid back?’, Felicity couldn’t help but ask.

Both of the Queens shook their heads strongly, making Tommy smirk.

‘His loss.’

‘What about Laurel?’, Felicity asked.

‘Who?’, Tommy tiled his head.

‘Laurel Lance’, Oliver said, slowly.

‘Black Siren?’, Tommy frowned. ‘We went together at school, right?’

Everyone else shared a look.

‘Do I wanna know?’, Tommy asked.

‘Not really’, Felicity breathed out.

‘Look’, Oliver meant business, ‘we can send you back to your Earth.’

Tommy blinked. ‘Or…?’

‘Or what?’, Thea asked.

‘Or you could not do that, and let me… help?’

He didn’t seem too convinced.

‘You’re evil’, Felicity pointed out. ‘You’re a robber. How could we possibly trust you?’

‘You have a point, I guess’, Tommy frowned. ‘How about a trial run? There are a lot of _evil_ ’, he threw Felicity a look, ‘metahumans running around. I could help you and The Flash out with them.’

There was a long pause.

‘The Flash needs all the help he can get’, Thea said in a low voice.

Felicity looked to Oliver, and she knew what he was going to say. Sure enough, he accepted.

→←

Tommy did help with the metahumans.

He shot arrow after arrow, he bantered with Oliver over comms, he flirted with Felicity, he teased Cisco and laughed a lot.

A whole lot.

It was kind of insane.

After that, Tommy promised he turned over to the good side, because it was a lot more fun than being evil. They let him be, but assured him they will be keeping an eye out for him.

→←

Three months later, Tommy saved Felicity from being thrown off a building.

As he zipped them away to the next building over, Tommy’s hand was on her ass. Felicity yelped, slapping his cheek without hesitation.

‘I was joking’, he pouted as they landed. ‘I just saved your ass, you should be grateful.’

‘I am’, Felicity said angrily, ‘but don’t be a jerk about it.’

→←

Two months later, Tommy was sitting on their couch, slowly nursing a glass of whisky, as Oliver talked to him about all he went through with _his_ Tommy.

→←

Two weeks later, Tommy just showed up to the lair, offering his services.

→←

Two months later, The Archer was a well known name in Starling City, another addition to the list of The Arrow’s friends.

→←

He kept flirting with Felicity, but it was harmless. Oliver kept saying that his Tommy would have probably done that as well.

Over time, he took Thea under his wing like any big brother would have done, and he also became a good friend to Oliver.

‘I’m not him’, Tommy kept saying, ‘I’m way cooler.’


	73. a cold visit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [@Lademonessa](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Lademonessa) asked: _So Laurel, Felicity, and the girls get together for girls night and kick out all the guys. The guys assume they're doing girly things when, in truth, they stage their own op and wind up blowing shit up as a bonding activity. Dig and Oliver stumble into the aftermath to see the ladies clean up but, instead of bursting in, decide to follow them discreetly and wind up getting schooled Birds of Prey style. Girl talk a must._
> 
> Well. This is... not quite that. Low-key Olicity. High-key Captain Canary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So about that death on Legends of Tomorrow. Nope. Or that one on Arrow. Nope. So about Felicity and Oliver breaking up. Nope. Just… Nope. So Snart’s still alive, Laurel’s still alive, Olicity’s still alive, all’s well :|.

Felicity’s current mood was something between angry and terrified. Large spectrum, sure, but Oliver and Digg went away to Central City to help Barry with a _problem_ , and they forbid her to come. She was angry about that, but she was also terrified, and waiting for updates from Caitlin, like she has been doing for the past four days.

She was left behind with the girls, Thea and Laurel, and they were planning on patrolling tonight. That was good, Felicity thought, it gave her something else to think about, not about her boyfriend and close friends dead in a ditch somewhere.

With that in mind, she stopped at a Starbucks on her way to the lair, grabbing coffee for her and the girls.

‘Let me help you with that’, a smooth voice said when Felicity was reaching out to grab the to-go bag.

There was a man by her side. He was around her age, probably, with short chopped hair and very bright blue eyes. He was wearing all black, a leather jacket and an empty thigh holster.

That made Felicity pause.

‘It’s okay’, she said, taking the bag from his hands. ‘Thank you, but I can handle it.’

She turned around without another word and he didn’t catch up until she was half a block down.

‘Miss Smoak’, he said, falling in line with her. ‘Let me _help_ you with that.’

‘I said I don’t need help’, Felicity gritted out, hurrying her pace.

He kept following, a cup of coffee in his hand. He didn’t drink from it, though.

‘Would you look at me for one second?’, the man said, annoyed, and for some reason, it made Felicity stop.

She stared at him. He was attractive, sure, but… He looked familiar, somewhat. But Felicity couldn’t figure out where she saw him before.

He was waiting for her to do just that, though, considering the expectant look in his eyes.

‘Come on, sweetheart.', he all but leered. Figure it out.’

Felicity shook her head, her eyes falling on the thigh holster again. It was large, she realized. Larger than a normal gun.

An image popped up in her head, a news reel about Barry fighting Captain Cold.

Her jaw dropped, and she looked up at the man in front of her, at Leonard Snart.

He smirked. ‘Now you’re getting it.’

‘What do you want?’, Felicity said taking a step back. She was scared, there was no denying it. Snart may have left with Rip Hunter to save the world, but he was a villain long before that.

‘Not to hurt you’, Snart smirked at her, before tilting his head. ‘There’s an issue with Sara and I need your help.’

Felicity gulped. She also sighed, knowing full well that she might grow to regret this. But this was Sara, and if Snart stooped low enough to ask for help, it was bad.

‘Come on’, she said, ‘follow me.’

ͻͻ

Snart whistled when they stepped into the lair. And then he yelped, because there was a gun pressed into the back of his head.

‘It’s okay, Laurel’, Felicity was quick to say. ‘He says something happened with Sara and that he needs our help.’

Laurel dropped the gun, just as Thea came into view. They were both already wearing their gear, and they both glared at Snart, Laurel more than Thea.

‘What happened with my sister?’

Snart blinked at Laurel. ‘Oh’, he said. ‘Nice to meet you.’

It was awkward, and it made Felicity frown. Profoundly.

‘Start talking’, Laurel all but glowered.

Snart sighed and took a step back. Then another and another, until his hip hit a table. He didn’t lean on it or sat down on it, he put his elbows on it and leaned back, his legs in an awkward position, his body half bent.

‘We came here on a break’, he said. ‘The rest of the team is out on an undercover mission. They didn’t need us, so we figured we’d… visit.’

‘Clearly you didn’t get to that point’, Thea pointed out.

Snart sighed and closed his eyes, highly aggravated. But he didn’t comment on the interruption.

‘She was taken by a League of Assassins member.’

There was a long pause, which Felicity felt obligated to fill.

‘She’s not a member anymore, and –‘

‘Things have changed’, Snart said. ‘ _We_ changed things.’

‘What does that mean?’, Laurel asked and Snart looked at her for a long while before answering.

‘Sara went back to the League. In the 50s.’

Silence followed his statement.

‘Time travel is complicated to explain’, Snart sounded annoyed. ‘And it doesn’t matter how it came to happen, what matters is that she was taken and I have no way to get her back.’

‘What about your team?’, Thea asked.

‘I told you they’re on a mission’, Snart said impatiently. ‘Deep undercover. Even if I find a way to send them a message, I’d just be compromising them.’

The girls shared a long look. There was no hesitation, though, of course they’d help Snart get Sara back. It was _Sara_.

‘Where’s your gun?’, Felicity couldn’t help but ask.

He sighed. ‘The bastard took that as well.’

‘Was it Merlyn?’

Felicity’s question was met with a blank look from Snart.

‘A guy with a prosthetic arm?

‘No’, Snart frowned. ‘He definitely had both arms.’

‘Felicity’, Laurel said, gravely. ‘Can you track Sara down?’

‘I can try’, she said strongly, already heading to her computers.

ͻͻ

She ended up calling Cisco, who got Oliver there and they both threw a bit of a fit upon seeing Snart’s face next to Felicity, before Barry calmed them down.

‘I thought Oliver said the League was destroyed’, Barry frowned over skype, making Snart glare at her.

‘You didn’t tell me that.’

‘I was going to’, Felicity grumbled. ‘Yes, Barry, it was destroyed. There is no more Ra’s al Ghul anymore, but his followers are still alive.’

‘But nobody’s leading them’, Snart said.

‘No’, Felicity nodded . ‘Loosing that might have made some of them go… very rogue.’

‘Just find her’, Snart snapped. ‘I can deal with rogues.’

‘You don’t have your cold gun’, Felicity pointed out.

Snart looked menacingly at her, cracking his knuckled. ‘If I get my hands on the guy, I’m not going to need it.’

‘Anyway’, Cisco said pointedly. ‘How can we help?’

‘Is there any way to track down time travelers?’, Felicity asked him. ‘Like how you tracked down the breaches in Central City?’

Cisco and Barry looked to the side, both of them frowning, clearly thinking. It was silent for a full minute, Snart silently growing more and more anxious.

‘They’ll think about it’, Oliver finally said. ‘Give us a bit of time, maybe we’ll find something. We’ll get back to you, but until then, you should try your usual ways.’

‘Of course’, Felicity nodded. ‘Thank you.’

After she logged off skype, she started looking for Sara in her own ways. Traffic cameras, face recognition and all that.

Snart silently seethed over her shoulder the entire time.

‘What’s going on between you and my sister?’, Laurel asked, startling them both.

Felicity looked to Snart, so he saw the way his eyes grew wide, the way he ticked his jaw and took a deep breath. There wasn’t a blush on his cheeks, not exactly, but it was a close thing.

‘Nothing’, he said evenly, not even turning to look at Laurel.

She didn’t answer, but when Felicity turned around, Laurel was looking incredulously at Snart. Also, somewhat dumbfounded.

‘Well’, Felicity said, diplomatically. ‘Even so, she’ll be glad you’re looking for her.’

Snart threw her a look. ‘We’re a team’, he said quickly. ‘Of course I’m looking for her.’

He looked back to the monitors, so he didn’t see Felicity and Laurel sharing a somewhat amused look. In the end, Laurel shrugged, running a hand over her face.

She went away, muttering about Sara’s taste in men. Snart pointedly ignored her.

ͻͻ

Team Flash didn’t call, but Barry showed up.

‘I can’t stay’, he said quickly, ‘there’s a… situation. But I got you this’, he gave what was clearly a cold gun to Snart, ‘and this’, he gave Felicity a thumbdrive.

‘Run that program, it’ll track down a time traveler’s frequency.’

‘His what?’, Snart asked, and he was ignored.

‘But it fades’, Barry went on, ‘we think, so you guys better hurry. Good luck.’

He zapped out of there, making Snart roll his eyes. But then he turned to Felicity.

‘You heard him, blondie. Get to work.’

Felicity slapped him without saying any single word. She also got to work.

ͻͻ

Snart tried to make a comment about how Felicity should stay back at the lair, direct them from there, but he was quickly shut down by three very loud lady voices.

So Felicity went with Speedy, Black Canary and Captain Cold, at the outer part of Star City, where Sara was apparently in an old apartment building.

Old as it was, it had a top of the line security system, even if Felicity’s tech showed only three heat signatures, one of which was Sara.

Felicity disarmed the security, Snart knocked out the guard.

They walked into the elevator. Felicity (still wearing a dark blue dress, but with sturdy leather boots), Laurel and Thea (in their full suits), and Snart (still in his leather jacket, with a cold gun in his thigh holster).

There was bad elevator music playing.

‘This is so awkward’, Thea said.

Felicity laughed, a manic reaction.

‘Let’s just get this over with’, Snart said strongly.

‘Let’s get Sara back.’

ͻͻ

Sara and Nyssa were tied up with chains against two chairs, as a man in League of Assassins gear was clearly torturing them.

The women were bruised and bleeding, their clothes were torn, their mouths were gagged and there was rage in their eyes.

Snart pounced on the league member, and all the women in the room stared as he beat the bastard to the ground. His gun was _right there_ , but he didn’t use it. No, he used his bare hands to get the other guy into a bleeding mess on the floor.

When he was truly unconscious, Snart rose, panting. He looked to Sara.

‘Do you wanna have a go at him?’

Sara shook her head, and Felicity yelped, moving to get her and Nyssa out of their restraints. She didn’t see Snart ice the bastard, but she heard it.

Laurel was the first one to hug Sara and Nyssa, then Thea, who also gave them come clothes. Felicity followed and she would have been lying if she would have said she wasn’t interested to see what Snart was going to do.

Nothing. He did nothing. He leaned against a wall, hands crossed over his chest, gun back in the holster.

‘Thanks’, Sara said, but made no move to get to his side.

‘Don’t mention it’, Snart responded. ‘Really, don’t.’

‘Your gun’s in the bathroom’, Sara said next, making him pull a face and take off to find it.

Nyssa suggested they burn down the whole building, because it used to be a League headquarters. They did.

And that was that.

ͻͻ

Except that it wasn’t.

When they got back to the lair, Sara explained that she needed to have a long overdue discussion with Nyssa. Neither of them complained, of course, but Felicity couldn’t help but see the way Snart faltered at that. It was gone in a beat, sure, but it was there.

Still, he said nothing, leaving wordlessly.

ͻͻ

He came back the next morning, when Felicity was the only one there.

‘You know Sara is spending the day with Nyssa, right?’

Snart blinked. ‘Yes. And I’m bored.’

‘I thought you said you were here to visit people.’

‘Sara’s here to visit people.’, Snart pointed out. ‘I don’t know anybody here, so. I’m really bored.’

Felicity huffed, but… she understood him. He said he was bored, but she thought it was more than that. She was bored too, but because the lair seemed so lonely without Oliver and John.

‘You’re coming with me, then’, she told him without leaving any room for discussion. ‘I have to be at meeting in Central City, and you have to give Cisco his gun back.’

Snart narrowed his eyes. ‘Fine, but I’m driving.’

Felicity did actually snort at that. ‘We’re taking my jet.’

He blinked, twice, then said. ‘Right. I forget you’re a big shot CEO.’

Felicity rolled her eyes.

ͻͻ

The jet crew kept throwing Snart weird looks.

Understandable, considering how he was sprawled out on three seats, how he kept asking for glasses of whiskey and how he kept distracting Felicity from reading the reports she needed to.

Once they landed, she was glad.

‘Meet me back her in 3 hours. Don’t be late, or I’m leaving you here. And Cisco better get his gun back, or you’ll be in trouble.’

Snart rolled his eyes aggressively. ‘I don’t like me women bossy.’

Felicity laughed at that. ‘Somehow, I think that’s a lie. But it doesn’t matter’, she held out her left hand, ‘cause I’m really taken and really not your type.’

Snart looked like he agreed with her, but said nothing else as he left.

ͻͻ

On the plane ride back, Snart was oddly subdued. And he was drinking coffee.

‘Why do you think I like my women bossy?’, he finally asked, and Felicity blinked for a long time.

‘Because you like Sara.’

‘I don’t’, came the quick dismissal, which only made Felicity throw him a look.

‘It’s not like that’, Snart said next, and Felicity shook her head.

‘I think it is.’

‘But…’, Snart frowned. ‘Sara’s gay.’

‘Not really’, Felicity said, amused. ‘I mean, Oliver cheated on Laurel with Sara.’

Snart pulled a face, then.

‘Yeah’, Felicity breathed out. ‘Things are always complicated with the Queen’s and Lance’s. You should get used to that if you plan on sticking around.’

‘We’re a team’, Snart said slowly.

‘Yes’, Felicity nodded. ‘But that’s not what I was talking about and you know it.’

Snart took a deep breath before releasing it slowly. ‘I really shouldn’t.’

‘I don’t know about that’, Felicity shrugged. ‘Really, I don’t. But you should ask Sara.’

He was silent for the rest of the flight.

ͻͻ

When they got back to the lair, Laura and Thea were on their way out.

‘We’re taking the night off, and you should too’, Laurel told Felicity, before turning to look at Snart. ‘Sara’s waiting for you downstairs. But do try to remember that every weapon I have is made by Cisco.’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’, Snart all but spluttered.

Laurel didn’t really answer him. ‘Take care of her, or you’re going to have me to deal with.’

She left, leaving a very confused Snart behind. It was kind of hilarious.

‘I should go’, Felicity said.

He grabbed her arm. Not hard, but with enough strength to make it important.

‘Don’t you dare. This is all your fault, so you’re coming with me.’

It was Felicity’s turn to splutter. ‘How is this my fault?’

‘You just had to go and tell me I _like_ her.’

Felicity whined, but Snart ignored her, all but dragging her to the elevator.

She hugged Sara again. ‘Everything okay with Nyssa?’

‘Yeah’, Sara smiled. ‘We just needed to talk things out. Some closure, you know.’

Felicity nodded. ‘Is she sticking around?’

Sara shook her head. ‘She’s gonna travel.’

When nobody said anything else to that, Sara’s eyes traveled to Snart. He was leaning against a wall, in another weird position. Felicity tapped on Sara’s leg, making her look up.

Felicity winked, before turning around and heading to her computers. She could still hear them, though.

Snart made his way to Sara’s side, and she huffed, seemingly amused.

‘I owe you’, she said. ‘You saved my life again.’

‘You don’t owe me. We’re a team, right? It’s what we do.’

Sara sighed, and Felicity heard Snart taking another few steps forward. She thought that he was probably sitting between her legs, considering Sara was sitting on top of a table.

They were silent for a while. Felicity’s cheeks were burning, she felt so awkward. But it would be even more awkward to turn around and leave right now.

‘You know’, Snart’s subdued voice came, ‘for all the time we spend in the past, we don’t have a lot of time to think about the future.’

‘What about the future?’, Sara asked, and Felicity knew she was smiling.

‘About how we’re going to be in it.’

‘How?’, Sara was frowning. ‘We’re supposed to be legends, right?’

‘That’s not what I meant.’

There was a pause. ‘Oh.’, Sara breathed out.

‘I’m crazy, aren't I?’, Snart sighed.

‘Not as much as you’d think.’, Sara chuckled.

They were silent for a while, and then Felicity heard the distinct sound of kissing. She flinched and covered her eyes as she tried her best to run out of there.

She stopped half way through, though, when she heard the elevator dinging, signaling that there was somebody coming down.

‘Felicity’, Oliver’s voice boomed. ‘Want to tell me why you blew up a building?’

‘Or why is Sara making out with... is that Captain Cold?’, John’s voice followed.

Felicity sighed. Sara started laughing. Snart didn’t even bother taking his hand out of Sara’s.

ͻͻ

They spent another week in Central City. Sometimes, they were in the lair. Other times, they went out for lunch or coffee or drinks.

Felicity got to hear a lot of things that happened on the Wave Rider, and she got to know Snart, a bit.

He was an asshole. He was hilarious, he was sarcastic. He was a fighter. He understood what Sara saw in him.

The night before they were set to leave, they had dinner, the four of them, Laurel and Thea.

When Snart excused himself to go to the little villain’s room (Oliver only shrugged lightly before following him), Felicity turned to Sara.

‘Are you sure about this?’

‘No’, she chuckled. ‘We’re traveling through time and space in hopes of killing a villain who, quite literally, is trying to rule the world. I’m not sure about much these days.’

‘But’, Sara tilted her head, ‘I am sure about him, which is what you’re really asking.’

Felicity sighed. ‘He tried to kill Barry. And Caitlin, and Cisco and-‘

‘I know’, Sara waved her off. ‘But what we’re doing, our team… it changed him. It changed me, too.’

‘I’m pretty sure you could take him out’, Laurel pointed out, ‘if it ever got to that.’

Sara got an excited glint in her eyes. ‘Maybe.’

Laurel pulled a face. ‘You’re thinking dirty thoughts.’

‘Oh yeah’, Sara nodded, grinning. ‘That part's really fun.’

There was a pause around the table.

‘Really?’, Thea finally asked.

‘Oh yeah’, Sara’s grin grew. ‘He’s a helluva good kisser. And his hands and feet are always cold, which is a bad thing when we actually want to sleep, sure, but other times’, she shrugged, proud, ‘it’s very _fun_. _’_

Felicity whined. ‘I really don’t want to hear about how _fun_ Captain Cold is in bed.’

‘You know’, Sara tapped a finger to her chin. ‘We haven’t actually got to bed yet.’

That got them all frowning.

‘Physically, I mean’, Sara smirked. ‘All the times we had sex, we never actually got as far as the bed, we got distracted by the couch, a wall, the kitchen counter, the balcony-‘

Sara kept going on and on, no matter how much Laurel begged her to stop.

It was all in good fun, though. Sara was laughing, Laurel was shaking her head in exasperation and when the boys came back from the bathroom, Snart didn’t hesitate in wrapping a hand around Sara’s shoulder, kissing her temple when she leaned into him.

‘Oh god’, Laurel whined. ‘You’re adorable. It’s sickening.’

‘I’m not adorable.’, Snart glared at her.

‘Me neither, sis’, Sara piped up. ‘We’re hot, though.’

Snart pulled a face. ‘Well, technically-‘

‘Sara’, Oliver said with authority, ‘don’t melt away your icicle of a boyfriend.’

Felicity started laughing and didn’t stop for a long while.


	74. Pregnant, on and off

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon asked: _Can you write something to Pink on Green about five times that Felicity let someone believe she was pregnant when she wasn't and one time that she actually was pregnant and nobody believed in her?_

**→One**

Things in Felicity’s life tended to escalate quickly, especially if she was the one doing the talking. Pair that with a massive hangover and it was the perfect recipe for disaster.

This time, she didn’t want to let her mother know she has been out drinking all night and she was nursing a massive hangover on her way back to her dorm room.

Felicity couldn’t completely hide it from Donna, so she did tell her that she wasn’t feeling so well.

But then Donna asked where she was. And Felicity, in her alcohol altered state, bleary looked around and saw an abortion clinic. It was out of her mouth before she could second guess it.

She was met with silence, which was disturbing, because Donna was a woman that has never been silent in her life.

‘Just a checkup’, Felicity quick backtracked. ‘I mean, I just want to check, you know, I am a little late.’

‘Good’, Donna said slowly. ‘That’s good. But, Felicity, why didn’t you tell me you were seeing someone?’

‘I’m not’, Felicity flinched.

And that evolved into a whole other conversation that Felicity hated. But, just to pay her mom back, Felicity let her stew for about a week. Kept telling her that she was too nervous to open the results, but that she had a feeling they’re gonna come up positive.

When Felicity finally told her she wasn’t actually pregnant, Donna still yelled a lot.

 

**→Two**

Going dress shopping after having a Big Belly Burger lunch was the worst idea in the world.

When the clerk asked Felicity how far long she was, she felt horrible. But to save grace, of course she put a hand over her belly and said that she’s barely 6 weeks.

She cut back on her fast food after that horrifying experience.

 

**→Three**

When Felicity pictured herself going clothes shopping for baby Sara, this was not it.

For one, Oliver was not by her side. Secondly, she didn’t feel this helpless, reading tags over and over again and wondering what the hell did those number mean?

And thirdly, she really didn’t think she’d be talking to an over enthusiastic clerk who kept congratulating them.

Oliver wasn’t any help, considering he went along with it. He put a hand around her shoulders and stroked her belly gently, a soft and faraway look in his eyes.

It was disturbing. Felicity didn’t say another word for the rest of the trip, she didn’t even insist on letting Oliver pay for half of the clothes they bought.

As soon as they were out of the shop, though, Felicity freaked out.

‘I’m your god damn executive assistant, Oliver! We can’t have people thinking that you got me pregnant.’

The bastard laughed. ‘It’s fine, Felicity. If she goes to the press with it, we can easily dismiss it as a stupid rumor.’

Felicity gaped. For a while.

‘Why did you go with it?’, she finally thought to ask.

Oliver shrugged. ‘Figured it sounded better than _we’re shopping for friends_. And it worked out, didn’t it? She helped us and she was nice about it.’

Felicity took a deep breath. ‘Never again, Oliver. Never again.’

He just chuckled.

 

**→Four**

There was a … serial kidnapper in Central City. That was taking new born children and experimenting on them.

It was a horrible, hideous thing, and Felicity and Oliver didn’t hesitate in making the trip to help Barry.

The clinic where the children were taken from was easy to track, and a plan was quickly made. The only slight problem was that Felicity needed to be there (because she was the one who could hack their network) and Caitlin needed to be there as well (because she was the only one who would understand any of the procedures).

‘So’, Caitlin turned to frown at Felicity. ‘You’re the one who got pregnant, because I work too much? And we got the sperm from, oh I don’t know, one of our friends? Or my brother, let’s say, I think that’ll work well.’

Felicity didn’t even think about refusing, she was too focused on the job at hand.

Once they got to the clinic, Felicity felt a bit awkward. Holding hands with Caitlin, acting like she was pregnant and so very happy about it. Thankfully, Caitlin did most of the talking. She knew what she was talking about and all Felicity had to do was to talk about her fake morning sickness and fake cravings.

And once Caitlin all but demanded a tour of the delivery room, dragging the doctor away from his office, Felicity easily hacked into the computer and copied all of the files.

‘I do love you’, she told Caitlin once they were out, ‘but I really don’t want to have a baby with you. You’re too overprotective.’

Caitlin laughed about it, and they both allowed the boys’ teasing easily.

And later, when they found out that the man stealing the babies was the doctor they talked with, Felicity and Caitlin didn’t bother putting on mask when they slapped and kicked him, repeatedly, taking turns, as the Arrow and the Flash held him up.

**→Five**

Felicity was in the middle of a tedious board meeting when she got the text from Digg.

 _Oliver’s hurt. Could use a second set of hands in surgery_.

She didn’t gasp, but it was a close thing. She got up from her chair, though, feeling sick to her stomach.

Of course, everyone was staring at her, because she interrupted the meeting. And Felicity was just standing there, her face pale, a hand over her stomach and one clutching her phone tightly.

‘Miss’, Jerry said softly, coming to her side. ‘Are you feeling alright?’

His eyes skipped to the hand she kept on her belly, so that is why Felicity said the next words that came out of her mouth.

‘I might be getting pregnant.’

There was a lengthy pause, that was only disrupted by Felicity’s phone beeping again with another text from Digg.

_It’s not that bad, I promise, but we could still use you._

‘I have to go’, Felicity said, already heading for the door. ‘I’m so sorry, we’ll reschedule, Jerry will do that.’

‘Of course’, the young man nodded. He also put a hand on her back. ‘I’ll walk you out.’

As soon as they were in the safety of her office, Jerry leveled her with a look.

‘Are you really sick?’

‘Not exactly’, Felicity didn’t look up at him.

Jerry sighed. ‘In that case, that was a horrible excuse.’

Felicity was just grateful that he didn’t ask her for the real reason she needed to leave.

 

**→Plus one**

When Felicity finally made her way down to the lair after a very long day at the office, everyone was already there.

But like… Everyone. Including Team Flash.

She knew they’d be there,  Oliver did text her earlier that day, but that meant that the lair was full. Oliver and Digg, Laurel and Thea, team Flash, including even Harry.

There wasn’t any place left for Felicity at the table.

‘You know guys’, she sighed, ‘you’re supposed to make sure the pregnant lady always has a place to sit.’

Digg snorted at that. Cisco rolled his eyes.

‘No, really’, Felicity sighed. ‘I’m not that far yet, but I swear to god my feet are killing me. I’ll have to invest in more heal-less shoes.’

Again, Digg snorted.

‘And I’ve been craving pickles all day. Of all the things, I picked pickles. I’m disappointed in myself.’

A few people frowned at that.

‘You hate pickles’, Digg said, slowly.

‘I know’, Felicity sighed, absently running a hand over her not that obvious yet belly. ‘It’s disturbing.’

Oddly (not really) enough, all the eyes turned to Oliver then. Who was looking at Felicity with a very disappointed expression.

‘Honey’, he said as sarcastically as possible, ‘when we agreed we’d tell them together, this wasn’t what I had in mind.’

‘Man’, Digg shook his head, ‘you’re in on this too?’

Oliver blinked. ‘That is how babies work, yes.’

‘I don’t believe you!’, Digg insisted. ‘Felicity’s been playing the pregnant card for years, to get her way. I’m disappointed you’re enabling her.’

Oliver just rolled his eyes, before looking to Felicity and motioning for her to come sit in his lap.

She did that, happily, but she also pulled out her first sonogram from her purse.

Of course, the lair erupted in a set of cheers at that and Felicity forgot all about her pickle craving because she was too busy receiving hugs and kisses.


	75. the mayor and the entrepreneur

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Olicityshipper asked: _could you write something set in season 4 where oliver is really insecure and closing himself off again because the team, lance, especially diggle, are acting really hostile towards him but felicity drags him out of it because she's his light in the darkness?? everything else can be up to you, thats kinda just guidelines..._
> 
> After season 4, though. Featuring interim Mayor Queen.

It has been a month since Oliver was appointed interim mayor, and Felicity could see how much it had changed him.

For one, he was running himself exhausted. He spent every day in the office, in meetings and press conferences, or out on the streets talking to the citizens and trying to make everyone help build their city again.

And on the other hand, he still spent countless night hours patrolling the city and keeping it safe from under his hood.

There were dark circles under his eyes, his spine was always tense and even though he got an apartment for himself, finally moving out of the lair, Felicity knew Oliver enough to know for certain that he didn’t bother with decorating it past the basic neceseties. She wasn’t sure if he even had a bed, or just a mattress on the floor.

It wasn’t just that, though. It was… Oliver changed, towards her.

Understandable, really, it has happened since they broke up. But now, when Felicity stayed by his side when nobody else was left, she thought things will change again between them.

And they did, but not in the way Felicity thought.

Oliver closed off. He never talked about his work as mayor, not once mentioning anything except “I’ve had a long day”. They spoke a lot, of course they did, every night when Felicity watched him put on the hood and when she guided him through the streets.

But it was never … personal.

It hurt her a lot, that she didn’t _know_ what Oliver was going through anymore. And that he didn’t even bother in asking how she was doing.

Felicity thought of doing something about it, but she was too scared, that he’d close himself off even more. So she kept quiet, went on with the status quo and just silently offered him her support.

○◦○

It was a Tuesday, late morning, when Felicity’s phone started ringing, Oliver’s picture popping up on her screen.

‘What’s wrong?’, is what she answered with.

‘Good morning, Felicity’, his tone was pretty fake, and it didn’t take long for her to understand that he wasn’t alone. ‘Am I interrupting anything important?’

Felicity looked down at the pajamas she was still wearing, to the untouched files scattered all over her bed, to the laptop that was still closed next to her.

‘Not really’, she snorted. ‘What can I do for you?’

There was a slight pause. ‘Are you free for lunch? We haven’t … talked, in a while. I’d like to catch up.’

‘When you say lunch’, Felicity frowned, ‘do you actually mean lunch or do you mean an impromptu mission?’

‘Oh, no, please don’t try to cook’, was Oliver’s response. ‘I’ll pick up some burgers on my way. Do you want to meet up at my place?’

‘Or you could come here?’, it came out as a question, because Felicity was very confused.

‘I’d rather you come to me, it’s closer to my office. Plus’, he chuckled, ‘I know you’ll have some great decorating ideas.’

‘Oliver’, she said slowly, ‘you’re acting very weird.’

He sighed. ‘I’m alright, I promise. See you at noon?’

‘Sure’, she sighed right back, before they said a quick goodbye.

Felicity left the files exactly where they were and dragged herself to shower. She didn’t bother too much with getting ready, opting for a pair of leggings and a big fluffy sweater, minimum makeup and a pair of chucks.

Still, she looked a lot better than Oliver did.

His tie was askew, the shirt he was wearing was rumpled and there was a big coffee stain on his suit jacket. He looked more than exhausted, really, he looked like he was at the end of his rope.

It broke her heart.

He saw it, because he smiled.

‘I’m okay, I promise. Come in, make yourself comfortable, and excuse me while I shower?’

Felicity just nodded.

As she thought, the apartment was barely decorated. There was an expensive leather couch and an equally expensive tv, but that was it for the living room. In the kitchen, it seemed like the only things that Oliver touched were the coffee maker and the cups. She snooped around, happy to find an actual bed in the second room, but there wasn’t a dresser, just a rack that held his suits and a few open suitcases.

When Oliver came out of the bathroom, dressed in sweats and a tshirt, Felicity already had set the table and distributed the Chinese he had picked up.

They ate in silence, and it wasn’t awkward, per say, but it was… depressing.

‘Why am I here?’, she finally asked, as softly as she could.

Oliver took a long while to answer. ‘I haven’t been fair to you. Just because I… didn’t want to put my problems on your shoulders, that…’

He sighed, before meeting her gaze.

‘How are you doing, Felicity?’

She faltered. ‘I’m fine.’

‘No, I mean’, he shook his head. ‘How are you doing? _What_ are you doing? Are you looking for a job? Is there anything I can help you with?’

Oh, Felicity thought.

‘Thank you for the offer’, she diplomatically said, ‘but that won’t be necessary. I’m still figuring this out, but uh… I found a lawyer who’s been helping me out. There’s a lot of paperwork, but I’m going to open my own firm.’

Oliver’s jaw dropped.

‘I’m not sure I can do it yet’, Felicity babbled. ‘I have quite a bit of money, but it’s a huge investment and I’m going to need other investors beside myself and in order to get those, I have to make some really freaking amazing proposals, but I have the ideas and-‘

‘Felicity’, Oliver easily stopped her. ‘You’ll do amazingly.’

She felt calmer, just with those words. ‘Thank you’, she sighed. ‘I sure do hope so.’

Oliver didn’t say anything more, going back to absently playing with the dumplings on his plate.

‘Hey’, Felicity said. ‘You said you didn’t want to put your problems on my shoulders, and I understand that, really I do, I appreciate it. But if I can help, or if you just want to talk about it, I’m… I’m still here, Oliver.’

He sighed, deeply, putting his chopsticks down. He wordlessly got up and made them coffee, urging Felicity to follow him to the couch, which she did.

‘I’m mayor’, Oliver said slowly. ‘I’m the interim mayor of Star City, and it doesn’t look like anyone is willing to organize a proper election anytime soon. But…’, he closed his eyes. ‘I have no control. Over anything.’

‘What do you mean?’, Felicity asked, frowning profoundly.

‘They aren’t letting me _do_ anything. I’m just… a pretty face for everyone else’s agendas. It’s… It’s all a scam, Felicity. I thought I could help this city, that this title will help me with it, but…’, he shrugged. ‘They won’t even let me decide which meetings I can accept to go toor not. I’m just dancing their dance and smiling politely while doing it.’

He looked disgusted with himself, and Felicity has never seen it before, not in Oliver.

‘And I can’t stop it’, he went on. ‘I can’t convince them I’m cable enough to have a say in how this city’s run, and I can’t step off either.’

She didn’t say anything, and Oliver didn’t even look at her as he spoke.

‘And it’s… it’s changing me. It’s… tainting me. I pushed you away, I pushed Thea away, now, when both of you needed me to be there. I know what you’re going to say’, he cut her off, ‘you are fine, you can handle yourself, I know that, but I promised myself I’ll always be a supportive friend to you, and I haven’t been able to do that anymore. And I _hate_ it. I hate myself for it.’

He didn’t go on, and Felicity took a few moments to gather her thoughts.

‘I appreciate that you came to me’, is what she started with. ‘I really do.’

Oliver shook his head. ‘Don’t, because I only did it because I can’t handle it anymore. You’re… you’re my last resort.’

That should have hurt Felicity, maybe. It didn’t.

‘I’ll take what I can’, she smiled. ‘But I can’t help you if you don’t tell me more.’

Oliver started shaking his head, but Felicity stopped him by placing her hand on his arm.

‘Tell my what’s going on in the mayor’s office. I don’t think I can help you with that directly, but maybe we could brainstorm ideas.’

‘There’s no point’, he sighed.

‘Indulge me’, she pinched his skin. ‘You’re desperate enough to try anything, I think, and that’s why I’m here.’

He didn’t want to do it, Felicity saw it clearly, in the set of his jaw, the anger in his eyes.

‘Oliver’, she sighed. ‘This is me you’re talking to. You know I’m not going to leave until I get my way’, he smiled a bit at that, ‘and, really now, you don’t have anything to lose if you just tell me what’s going on.’

‘These are _my_ problems’, he said. ‘You shouldn’t be forced-‘

‘Nobody’s forcing me to do anything’, Felicity said strongly. ‘I have always and will always do exactly as I wish, and now, my wish is to listen to you and help in any way I can. So start talking, Oliver. We don’t have all day.’

Reluctantly, he did start talking.

By the end of it, Felicity didn’t understand how Oliver was still functioning as a person. Because in the mayor’s office, he was bossed around. Every day, all day, given orders and told exactly what to do and say, and that… was something that Oliver would have never accepted in a million years.

It was heartbreaking, for Felicity, especially considering how she was absolutely useless in helping him.

All she could do was promise to be there if he ever wanted to talk again. Still, it seemed to have meant a lot for Oliver, considering the big hug he gave her on the way out.

○◦○

Slowly, Oliver started getting some control over his position. Felicity doesn’t know how he did it, exactly, but because nowadays they talked, she knew that he started making decisions and daring anyone to question them.

First they were small and insignificant decisions but in time, Oliver became bolder with the liberties he took in front of his council. It was a slow process, but it worked, and it a couple of months, Oliver was truly and fully the Mayor of Star City.

About the same time, Felicity opened up her firm. _Smoak Industries_ had arrows in its logo, an apartment with one office and two labs in downtown Star City and four employees: Felicity – the CEO, Curtis – head of R &D, Jerry – assistant and head of marketing and PR, and once a quarter, they’d have an accountant. Sometimes, a lawyer.

But they had work, thank the Heavens. People still knew Felicity’s name and while the projects they snatched weren’t big, they was enough, for now.

And then Oliver showed up at the office, on a random Tuesday. He didn’t say much, just gave them all a copy of a contract to read, a contract that stipulated Smoak Industries to set up and organize a brand new network for the Mayor’s office.

‘This is nepotism’, Felicity couldn’t help but point out.

‘Yes it is’, Oliver agreed, smirking. ‘But you guys are the only ones I trust.’

Felicity sighed. ‘The payment needs to be negotiated.’

Oliver raised an eyebrow. ‘Is that too little?’

‘It’s too much’, Felicity snorted.

‘Well I do have to buy your silence’, Oliver shrugged. ‘You’re bound to come across very classified information.’

Felicity didn’t argue with that, she knew it would be futile. So she looked at Curtis.

‘Can the two of us handle it?’, was what he asked.

Felicity nodded, after a beat. ‘It’s going to take us a bit longer than-‘

‘There’s no time limit’, Oliver interrupted.

Felicity looked to Jerry next, which not only became her friend, but also her right hand man in things relating to her business.

‘Felicity, sweetheart’, he said teasingly, ‘if you don’t sign that contract I will hang you out the window by your pretty little thong.’

Curtis snorted at that, and Oliver made a mildly affronted sound.

‘Seriously’, Jerry insisted. ‘This is routine work for the two of you, but it’s going to be a _Big Fucking Deal_ for Smoak Industries. It’s going to be great for publicity.’

Felicity looked to Oliver again. He was smiling, a bit.

‘It’s nepotism, yes’, he said. ‘But I know you’re the best. And’, he shrugged, his smile growing, ‘it’ll piss off some people that I… really want to piss off.’

Felicity grabbed a pen and signed the damn contract.

○◦○

A month later, she was under a desk in City Hall, cursing furiously.

‘Why does this say Palmer Tech?’, an annoyed man’s voice said, making Felicity come out from under the desk.

She recognized the man in front of her as the head of Oliver’s team on councilors, a man that Oliver despised.

‘Because they are Palmer Tech’, Felicity said, slowly.

The man huffed. ‘I thought they fired you.’

Felicity raised an eyebrow. ‘They did. However, me and my current colleague worked on this’, she pointed to the motherboard sitting on the desk, ‘and it is the best on the market.’

‘The contract was signed with Smoak Industries’, the man bit out, ‘not Palmer Tech.’

‘Of course’, she snapped back, ‘But the contract didn’t mention anything about where the pieces of hardware had to come from, just that they had to be top of the line. And they are.’

‘I’m not sure I believe you’, the man sneered at her. ‘I think you’re still trying to get your position at Palmer Tech back, and you’re doing it by kissing their asses.’

He paired this with a pretty dramatic show of picking up the mother board and throwing it over his shoulder. It hit the wall and shattered.

‘Wow’, Felicity breathed out. ‘That was unnecessary.’

Oliver came in the office, then, and he didn’t say anything, just looked between Felicity and the man in front of her.

‘And I think’, Felicity finally said, ‘that I don’t care about your opinion and that you’re currently stopping me from doing my job. So would you kindly leave me alone?’

Oliver came by her side, then. He didn’t say anything, just stood by her side, as they both glared at the man.

He left without saying another word, and Felicity shared a smile with Oliver, before going back to work.

○◦○

After all the hardware was set up, Felicity and Curtis had to spend a couple of long days in the City Hall basement, working on the software part.

Jerry came by a couple of times a day, bringing them food and coffee. Oliver stopped by whenever he could.

One day, they both got there at the same time.

‘I never asked’, Oliver said, running  a finger over a Smoak Industries sticker that Jerry insisted they put on every computer, ‘why does your logo have arrows in it?’

Felicity looked at Oliver like he was the dumbest man on the planet.

‘Because everyone knows that Felicity Smoak works with the Green Arrow?’

Oliver’s eyes grew slightly wide, and they skipped to Jerry.

Who was grinning.

‘Oh, thank god!’, he said, laughing delightedly. ‘Now we can stop acting like it was some big secret.’

Felicity had to bit on her lower lip to keep herself from laughing.

‘But do you know who the Green Arrow is?’, Oliver asked, and Jerry was very quick to shake his head.

‘No, no I don’t, and I’d like to keep it like that, please. The amount of times these two were kidnapped’, he waved a hand at Felicity and Curtis, ‘I’m really not strong enough for that. I scream like a child when I see a spider, for god’s sake.’

Felicity shared a look with Oliver. He seemed mildly disturbed and very amused. She started laughing.

○◦○

Later that night, in the lair, Oliver hesitated on his way out for patrol.

‘You have arrows in your logo’, he said slowly, looking intently at her.

Felicity smirked. ‘The Arrow is a very big part of my life, and he’s a defining part of my career. I also quite love him, so… I wouldn’t have it any other way, Oliver.’

He nodded slowly, a small, grateful smile on his face, and he left. But Felicity knew him, and she knew there was a sweet date in their near future, and an even sweeter reconciliation.


	76. the mayor and the entrepreneur - part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> continuation of the [last chapter](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4884940/chapters/16186201), because a few people have been asking for it and I thought it was needed, as well.

Felicity came down to the lair in a … state.

She was breathing very slowly, she was barely blinking, there were a couple of strands of hair falling out of her usually pristine ponytail.

She was dressed in a dress and wearing heels, which wasn’t something new for Oliver to see, it was just that since she opened her firm, she usually wore pants and flats for commodity.

Smoak Industries had a lot of contracts, which Felicity was glad for, her firm had evolved to 15 employees and changed offices twice. But she usually worked side by side them, _CEO be damned_ , and that meant she was very tired by the time she came down to the lair.

But she was never this bad.

‘What’s wrong?’, Oliver asked, making his way to her side.

As soon as he was close enough, Felicity put both of her hands on his arms, squeezing tightly.

She gulped. ‘Oliver, do you know Martin? Robert Martin?’

He frowned. ‘He was an investor, for QC. Right?’

Felicity nodded, slowly. ‘When Ray took over, he convinced Martin to invest more in the company. A lot more.’

‘Okay. And?’

‘And I just came from a meeting with him’, Felicity gulped again. ‘And he wants to invest in me.’

‘That’s great’, Oliver smiled.

‘It’s… yeah, sure’, Felicity gulped. ‘It’s great. It’s incredible. It’s… more money than I can count, Oliver.’

He kept smiling. ‘Felicity’, he said softly, ‘You’ve been trying to attract more investors for months. This is a great accomplishment.’

‘I don’t understand’, she all but whined. ‘He said he doesn’t believe in what Palmer Tech is doing anymore, that’s it’s been going bad since I left.’

‘I can understand that’, Oliver smirked, feeling very amused.

‘Felicity’, he shook his head. ‘Stop freaking out. This is a tremendous opportunity, and I am sure you’re going to manage it perfectly.’

She took a deep breath, followed by a deep sigh. She then sagged against Oliver’s chest, hands falling by her side so it wasn’t hard for him to hug her properly.

‘Congratulations’, he felt the need to say.

‘You wanna go out and celebrate after patrol?’

It was mumbled against his shirt, and it was clear that Felicity regretted saying it immediately after the words came out of her mouth, because she froze.

That… They didn’t do that anymore. They had lunch together, sometimes, but their schedules were pretty filled. They spent a lot of time together in the lair, sure, but it was usually over comms.

‘Yeah’, Oliver found himself saying, because god damn it, he _missed her_. ‘That sounds good.’

She relaxed, pushing away from his hold, nodding and smiling at him.

‘Any preferences?’, Felicity asked. Oliver shook his head, and she promised she’ll figure something out.

Δ Δ Δ

Oliver would be lying if he said that patrol was routine that night.

It was, sure, just him and his bike, slowly cruising the city. But his heart wasn’t in it, because his heart was with Felicity.

He never stopped loving her, there was no debating that. He understood why they broke up, and he supported her decision, ignoring about how much it hurt.

Oliver ignored a lot of things in the past year.

He ignored the pang he felt in his chest every time he laid eyes upon Felicity. He ignored the flutter his heart made every time she called him. He ignored the way he shuddered every time she touched him.

That night was the first time they hugged in the better part of a year. And something snapped inside of Oliver then, something snapped and something was put back together, because nothing has ever felt as right as the feeling of Felicity in his arms.

Oliver didn’t actually believe he had a chance anymore, a chance at them. He spent the last year strongly believing that, stubbornly believing it no matter how many times she smiled at him, teased him, ignoring the _arrows in her company’s logo_ , not thinking about how important it was that she was still by his side.

But now… Could Oliver dare believe something else?

This wasn’t a date, he was mostly sure of that.

But his traitorous brain still made him speed up his patrol.

Δ Δ Δ

Felicity was grinning widely when he came back to the lair. Her hair was down and she changed her heels for a pair of (still matching, of course) flats.

‘I’ve made reservations’, she said. ‘And called Curtis and Jerry. Do you mind?’

Not a date, then. ‘Of course not’, he smiled. ‘Maybe you should just go out with them, though. It’s your company, I-‘

‘Stop’, Felicity snorted. ‘And go shower. You have 15 minutes.’

Oliver didn’t argue anymore.

Δ Δ Δ

They took a cab (because we’re drinking, Oliver!) to a restaurant he has never been before.

It was on a rooftop, and it was a pleasant night, warm enough to sit outside with just a jacket on.

‘Mr. Mayor!’, the hostess all but screeched. ‘We weren’t expecting you tonight.’

Oliver smiled, but Felicity cut off whatever he was going to say.

‘We have a reservation under Felicity Smoak.’

The hostess checked her tablet. ‘Of course, table for six.’

As she lead them through the restaurant, Felicity kept giggling by Oliver’s side.

‘This is like, ten times worse than when you were just CEO, isn’t it?’

Oliver snorted. ‘That’s putting it mildly.’

He was pleasantly surprised by the décor. It was modern, with metal tables and harsh white lights, but there was also a lot of color: red pillows on the chairs, yellow plates and orange glasses. There were chubby vases on every table, with spring flowers in the same color set, bright pinks and reds with a touch of yellow.

It looked fun. There was music playing softly in the background, remixes of well known songs. Not Oliver’s usual cup of tea, but he didn’t mind it.

They got a table near the edge, and Felicity all but bounced to the chair closest to it, eagerly pulling out her phone and taking pictures of Star City’s skyline. It was beautiful, Oliver had to admit. Felicity didn’t get this view too often, she didn’t spend as much time as he did on rooftops.

Curtis came along with Paul, both of them hugging Oliver as well as Felicity, and Jerry came along with his boyfriend, a guy named Craig with impressive tattoos covering his arms and chest.

But he smiled goofily when he introduced himself, and by the end of the night, Oliver figured out that he was as soft as a marshmallow, tattoos be damned.

The food was good, they had burgers and fries, the desert was delicious, pie and home made icecream, and there was a constant flow of good wine through it.

Conversations were easy, surprisingly so, neither of the people at the table ever once mentioning work, the Arrow, or Oliver’s mayor status.

They were all happy, Felicity taking the lead.

‘We have a lot of work to do’, Curtis said as they were finishing desert.

‘Yes we do’, Felicity nodded. ‘But we’re not talking about that tonight’, she all but glared at her friend.

Curtis shrugged in a placating manner. ‘I’m just saying. Busy times are upon us.’

Felicity sighed. ‘You can clock out anytime you want.’ She looked to Jerry. ‘That goes for you too.’

‘We’re a team, Felicity’, Jerry raised an eyebrow. ‘We’re not gonna let you do this alone. I know personally how awful you are when you’re sleep deprived’. He shuddered, dramatically. ‘I will not let you reach the point of –‘

‘No’, Felicity shrieked. ‘You promised you weren’t going to mention that. Ever!’

Oliver leaned forward, suddenly very interested. Jerry picked up on it, because he smirked in his direction.

‘So you get to work one morning, a little bit earlier than usual, and you find your boss, this beautiful, amazing, gracious woman, sprawled on the floor in the middle of her office, snoring.’

Oliver raised an eyebrow, and Jerry went on with a smirk, ignoring Felicity’s pleas.

‘She was sleeping with her head on her laptop, her dress was… askew, to put it PG13, and had three different coffee stains on it, her hair was a mess and she was drooling and mumbling about kangaroos.’

‘That sounds like Felicity, yes’, Oliver said, fighting back a laugh.

She glared at him, but it died pretty quickly, because everyone else was laughing.

‘Bottom line’, Curtis said a bit strongly, ‘is that we’ve got this. Not just you, but all of us. It’s going to be awesome!’

Felicity sighed, but nodded, and she urged them to clink their glasses together.

Their deserts were done, but they ordered another bottle of wine and coffee.

It was sometime then when Felicity gently wrapped her pinky finger around Oliver’s, not stopping the conversation she was having with Paul. Oliver didn’t say anything either, he just put both of their hands comfortably on his thigh.

He caught the look Curtis threw their way, but he ignored that too.

Δ Δ Δ

 _Tell me hangover cures_ , Felicity texted him early the next morning, and Oliver laughed and called her back.

She picked up with a groan.

‘Are you okay?’

‘No’, she whined. ‘My head hurts and I’ve turned into a vampire, because the light _burnsssss me_.’

Oliver laughed again. ‘Pain killers, sugar infused breakfast and a lot of water.’

‘Coffee?’, she asked hopefully.

‘Yes, coffee’, he snorted, ‘but water too. You need to stay hydrated.’

She just whined again. Oliver checked the time and his calendar for the day. Surprisingly enough, he was free till noon.

‘Tell you what’, he said. ‘I’ll come over and make you some pancakes. If you want.’

He hated how hesitant he sounded. But he could hear the smile in Felicity’s voice when she answered.

‘Will you judge me if I open the door in ratty pajamas?’

It wouldn’t be the first time he saw her in ratty pajamas, is what Oliver wanted to say, but he didn’t. Instead, he chuckled.

‘In solidarity, I’ll come over in pajamas as well.’

‘Bring a suit over, though’, Felicity said, ever the logical one. ‘You do have to go to the office eventually.’

That’s what Oliver did.

True to her word, Felicity was wearing a pair of very old shorts and a Star Labs tshirt, that was too large on her. Her hair was a mess piled on top of her head and the curtains were drawn down all over her apartment.

They chatted easily as Oliver cooked, nursing a cup of coffee and he kept reminding her to drink water. As they ate, they sat side by side at the bar, and… something snapped in Oliver again.

Because this was… this used to be every morning for them, when they were together. But back then, there used to be kisses and fingers traveling certain parts of the other’s body, which was not happening now.

He tried his best to not let his ache known. He wasn’t very good at it, because at one point, Felicity sighed and rested her head on his shoulder.

‘I’ve missed this’, she said, a lot more subdued that anything else she said before that morning. ‘I’ve missed you.’

Oliver took a deep breath. ‘I’m sorry’.

‘No, don’t-‘

‘Felicity’, he boldly put a hand on her thigh, and the fact that she didn’t hesitate in putting hers over it gave him strength. ‘I know I’ve done you a lot of wrong.’

‘Oliver-‘

‘But I’m trying’, he said strongly. ‘I’m trying, and I’ll keep trying and…’, he took a deep breath. ‘I’ll keep waiting.’

Felicity didn’t exactly gasp, but it was a close thing. Oliver couldn’t turn his head to look at her, so he settled for squeezing her fingers.

‘If I keep waiting for nothing’, he said slowly, ‘then I’ll take what I can. What you’d… be comfortable with giving me. This… This is great. Really.’

He forced himself to look at her, and smile.

‘You’re my best friend, and that’s something I don’t want to lose.’

‘Okay’, Felicity breathed out, smiling softly. ‘I promise that you won’t.’

Nothing else was said on the subject after that, but Oliver was okay with that. He meant what he said. He would be willing to wait his entire life for Felicity, as long as she was by his side.

It didn’t take that long.

Δ Δ Δ

A week later, late one night, Oliver’s assistant (a capable young woman called Danielle) all but bursts into his office, a weird look on her face.

‘Miss Smoak is here to see you’, she said in a rush. ‘She looks… troubled.’

Oliver was up in an instant, distress clear.

‘Wait here’, his assistant said in an odd display of authority.

When Felicity came into his office, Oliver frowned deeply. She was wearing a pair of his sweats (he didn’t even realize he left them at her apartment), a red hoodie that he was sure was Roy’s and she had her hair in two braided tails.

‘What’s wrong?’, Oliver asked.

‘I just need a hug’, Felicity sniffed. She wasn’t crying, but it was a close thing.

He didn’t hesitate, of course he didn’t, wrapping her tightly in his arms, gently massaging her neck with his fingers.

‘What happened?’, he asked slowly.

‘I’m exhausted. I’ve been working like crazy, and it’s going great, it really is, but…’

She had to take a deep breath.

‘The apartment is so empty.’

Oliver closed his eyes.

‘I want’, she said next, shaking in his arms. ‘I don’t want… Oliver.’

Felicity looked up at him then, unshed tears in her eyes and such, such a love filled expression, it made his heart instantly beat faster.

‘I don’t want to keep you waiting anymore. I’m miserable without you. I can’t, I don’t want to…’, she gasped, ‘please just-‘

Oliver silenced her with a kiss. She whined against his lips, but she kissed him back. It didn’t last long.

‘I need to know you’re going to be there’, Felicity whispered. ‘That you’re going to be home when I get there at night, that I’ll be able to sleep next to you and count your breaths and touch you whenever I need to.’

‘Okay’, was all Oliver was able to say. ‘Okay.’

She kissed him this time, longer and stronger than before.

Again, something shattered in Oliver. Again, something put itself back together. Felicity in his arms, her lips against his, his nose filled with the scent of her, the lavender of her shampoo and the lemon of her fabric softener.

‘Just come home’, she said after the kiss, burring her face into his neck. ‘Please let’s go back home.’

He held her tightly. He wanted to tell her how much he loved her, but his assistant interrupted them.

‘With all due respect, Mayor. Go the fuck home’.

Oliver snorted, glaring a little at her.

Felicity laughed, wiping her face. ‘Better listen to your assistant, Oliver. She always knows best.’

He just sighed, and gathered his things.

Δ Δ Δ

A week later he was living with Felicity again, he was with her again, they were in love again.

He was mayor of Star City, Felicity was working hard on several different projects with money from a lot of new investors, the Green Arrow and Overwatch were keeping the city safe every night.

And every night, they fell asleep in each other’s arms, always whispering words of love.

Δ Δ Δ

‘Curtis called me Mrs. Mayor today’, Felicity told him one night over comms.

Oliver snorted. ‘He addressed me as Mr. Smoak yesterday.’

Felicity hummed. ‘You still got that ring?’

He didn’t exactly crash his bike, but he did break harder than he should have.

‘I can’t believe you’re doing this over comms.’

Felicity snorted. ‘Answer the question, Mr. Smoak.’

It wasn’t even a question, Oliver thought. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t need to.

‘Come home’, Felicity said softly. ‘And make me your fiancé again.’

‘On my way, Mrs. Mayor.’


	77. Life makes echoes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [@sammyloves2writes](http://sammyloves2writes.tumblr.com/) asked: _could you do something misfits, like related to felicity or just friends or she was in the storm or anything, I love the show (and Nathan and "Barry" are my favs)_
> 
> Title from [Misfits title song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ztEg2n9W_8).

‘Oh no’, Felicity said, and Oliver stared at her.

That was not a normal reaction for her to have in this situation. Not even close.

⃝

Oliver was just finishing up a round of patrol. It was a slow going night, he didn’t stumble upon anything that needed the Arrow’s attention.

So when Felicity called him and said she was just about to leave the office (at 2AM), Oliver insisted he’d escort her.

But Felicity was brain-dead, as she called herself, so she wanted to walk back to the lair. And Oliver was in no position to deny her, so he chose a path that was bound to keep them both hidden from prying eyes.

This path lead them through a park, deserted and barely lit, and it was there where they stumbled upon … it.

It being a fight. A… superhero. A superhero fighting what was clearly a drug dealer.

Oliver didn’t move, because the superhero had it handled.

However, when Oliver says ‘superhero’… he means that literally.

The man looked young, with dark curly hair falling over his shoulders and light hazel eyes. He had a red mask on, not unsimilar to Oliver’s, but that wasn’t the important part.

The guy was wearing a bright purple, full body leotard, with a pair of red boxers on top. He had a matching cape, an honest to god cape, and on his chest, the word _superhero_ were stitched in red and gold letters.

It was ridiculous.

When the drug dealer finally fell unconscious, the superhero let out a happy woop, and yelled ‘In your face, mate!’, in a thick British accent.

That’s when Felicity said ‘Oh no’.

Of course, that got the superhero’s attention. His jaw dropped upon seeing Felicity and the Arrow.

‘Holy shit!’, he yelled next. ‘Are you fucking kidding me?!’

Then he marched to their side, and Oliver finally moved, grabbing an arrow. Just as he was about to point it to the superhero’s chest, he stopped, because Felicity was hugging him.

The superhero. Felicity was hugging the superhero.

The guy was giggling in her hair, shaking her and lifting her up. And Felicity was laughing along with it.

‘Nathan, stop’, she finally said, and the guy gasped, pulling away.

‘You did not just reveal my secret identity to the Arrow!’

Oliver raised an eyebrow. ‘Would you rather I’d call you Superhero?’

‘D’uh!’, the young man rolled his eyes.

‘What’s your superpower, then?’, Oliver couldn’t help but ask.

Nathan grinned, somewhat evily, as Felicity sighed.

‘What are you doing here?’, she asked. ‘You’re a long way from home.’

‘Home got boring’, came the quick response.

Felicity sighed again. She also arranged to have dinner with him the next evening.

As they left, Oliver wanted to ask. He wanted so badly to ask. But he didn’t, because Felicity looked concerned, and he knew he wouldn’t get a straight answer now. So Oliver kept his mouth shut as they made their way to the lair.

⃝

Felicity made it to the lair fairly early the next night, even before Oliver left for his patrol. She didn’t mention Nathan, so Oliver didn’t either.

That is, until he met him on the streets.

Nathan was bleeding out in the middle of an alley way, a pipe going through his chest. He was unconscious but still breathing.

‘Felicity’, Oliver said quickly. ‘Nathan’s hurt.’

‘Oh’, was her answer. ‘How hurt?’

‘I’m sorry, but he’s been impaled.’

Felicity hummed, completely at ease. ‘Is he still alive?’

‘Yes’, Oliver said, shocked by her reaction.

‘Well un-impale him, or whatever that’s called. And bring him here.’, Felicity sighed.

‘Felicity!’, Oliver all but yelled. ‘He’s not okay.’

She laughed. ‘Just get him here, I’ll explain.’

Oliver heard the sound of his comm. turning off. He was completely in shock. Maybe Felicity didn’t understand how bad it was, but she should have, judging by his reaction.

Felicity always over reacted when it came to injuries. So why was she so calm now?

Oliver didn’t know what to make of it, and he couldn’t spare the time for it, because Nathan was bleeding out.

⃝

Felicity was painting her nails when Oliver stumbled into the lair with Nathan in his arms.

‘Oh, just put him on there’, she waved to a table.

Oliver did so, and then barked out her name.

‘Help me!’, he said angrily. ‘He’s dying.’

Felicity smiled. She shrugged, made her way to the drawers that kept their med supplies. She came back with only a scalpel, holding it with care, so that she wouldn’t mess up her nails.

Oliver stared.

‘What the hell are you doing?’, he asked.

She shrugged again, smiling, and promptly cut Nathan’s throat.

Felicity laughed upon seeing Oliver’s expression.

‘Wait for it’, she said, still laughing. ‘He’s gonna come back.’

Oliver just stared, at her laugh, at the blood pouring out of Nathan’s neck.

‘It’s fine, Oliver’, Felicity said again. ‘He’s immortal.’

Oliver spluttered.

‘No, really’, Felicity insisted. ‘There was a freak storm. He dies and comes back. He’ll be fine in a couple of hours.’

He didn’t find it in himself to say anything. Felicity shrugged again, and went back to doing her nails.

Oliver just sat there, stunned, incredulous, angry. He couldn’t believe Felicity.

He couldn’t… he would never forget the sight of Felicity cutting someone’s throat. Coldblooded murder, on Felicity’s hands.

It hurt him so much.

⃝

Nathan woke up three hours later, with a gasp and a groan.

‘Oh mate’, he whined. ‘I ruined my suit.’

‘I’ll order you a new one’, Felicity piped up.

They started talking then, completely ignoring Oliver. It went on for an hour, and Nathan left with one of Oliver’s shirts and with a wink thrown over his shoulder.

Felicity came by Oliver’s side then, smiling at him.

‘I have weird friends, I know.’

‘It’s not that’, Oliver shook his head. ‘I just… you scared me.’

Her expression became softer, then. ‘You know I would never have done it if I-‘

‘I know’, Oliver sighed. ‘You could have told me before, though.’

‘Sorry’, she smiled, sweetly, and it was all Oliver needed to smile, the tenseness in his shoulders disappearing.

‘Don’t do it again, please’, he said. ‘I couldn’t take it.’

She nodded, still smiling, then Felicity jumped into his arms, hugging him tightly.

Oliver returned the hug, because it’s been so long since he had Felicity in his arms. He hugged her tightly, going as far as pressing a kiss to her temple.

Felicity giggled at that, gently detaching herself.

‘So. Immortals, huh?’, Oliver raised an eyebrow.

She snorted. ‘It’s not that surprising anymore, really.’

He couldn’t even argue with that.


	78. It's a kind of magic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> random list of prompts: _you’re always finding weird trinkets in your clothes such as colourful feathers, smooth rocks, glinting scales or peculiar miniature marble carvings and you don’t know where they’re coming from but they’re actually good luck charms that i slip into pockets_
> 
> Five times Oliver thought Felicity was magic, and one time he knew for sure.

The first time it happened, it shouldn’t have.

Oliver was exhausted. His city was in chaos, Digg was hurt, Felicity and Lance were trying to stop the earthquake machine, he was on a rooftop fighting the father of his best friend, and he was exhausted.

He has never felt this exhausted in his life, but Oliver pushed through. Or tried to, at least.

But then, Malcom got the upper hand, his arms closing around Oliver’s neck. This was it, he thought. He didn’t have any fight left in him, Malcom was going to win and he was going to die.

Just as Oliver gave up, there was a spark, deep inside his chest, a burst of something. Adrenaline, excitement, strength, he didn’t know. But it gave him enough of a push to be reckless, to pierce himself with an arrow and bring down Merlyn.

It was only later, hours and hours later, when Tommy was dead and his mother was in jail, it was only then when Oliver found it. A pink feather, in his hood’s pocket. It was small and soft to the touch, and it had some carvings on the tail, so small that Oliver couldn’t make them out. It reminded him of Felicity, though, probably because of the obnoxiously pink color.

It didn’t matter, he thought. Not when Tommy was dead.

∆ ◊ ∆

The second time it happened, it didn’t happen to him. Oliver only caught a glimpse of it.

As Slade held his sword to Felicity’s neck, Oliver couldn’t look away. He knew that Felicity understood the plan, the look in her eyes after he said those three words back at the manor, he was certain she knew what to do.

But he couldn’t look away. If he would have believed in God, he would have prayed for Felicity’s safety.

He only caught a glimpse of it, when Felicity grabbed the syringe from her pocket and jammed it in Slade’s neck.

Oliver only caught a glimpse of a pink feather, falling to the ground. He thought about the moment he had found one in his pocket, he thought about the fact that Felicity had one too now.

But he couldn’t think about it for long, because he had to run and catch Slade.

∆ ◊ ∆

The third time it happened, nothing really happened.

They were miles and miles away from Star City, at a rest stop off a highway. Felicity was leaning against the hood of the car, looking for a hotel on her phone, as Oliver rummaged through the glove compartment, looking for his sunglasses.

His fingers close around something soft and tickly. Confused, he grabbed it out, only slightly surprised to see a familiar pink feather. Only now, it had several pieces of white tread tied around it, and from them small pieces of very thin wood hung, with markings that Oliver didn’t understand.

‘Felicity’, he said easily, ‘any idea what this is?’

She turned to look at him, and he saw the way her eyes widened, even if it was just for a fraction of a second.

‘It’s a charm’, she answered. ‘A pendant, I mean. It broke off the chain, so I put it away to fix it later. Leave it there, will you? I don’t want to lose it.’

Babble, Oliver noticed. Slight babble, but babble nonetheless. She was lying.

He didn’t care much, not right now. He’d ask about it later, when they were in a bed, tired and sated.

Oliver forgot to ask.

∆ ◊ ∆

The fourth time it happened, Oliver didn’t even notice it.

Chaos, Hell. Star City was, once again, at war.

He pushed through it, as he always did.

But when he was back at the lair, the now empty and trashed lair, as his eyes moved across the cases that held the suits of the heroes of this city, it was only then when Oliver allowed himself to breathe.

His eyes fell on his bow. There was a scratch on it, but upon further inspection, he realized that it wasn’t actually a scratch. It was a marking, small and simple, that made no sense to Oliver.

And then Felicity was by his side, very pointedly not looking at the bow Oliver was, and he decided to forget it.

It wasn’t important now, was it?

∆ ◊ ∆

The fifth time it happened was the first time Oliver asked.

He didn’t like it when Felicity had to be out in the field. Never had, never will.

But … their numbers were down, so when Oliver managed to get himself locked up in a cage, he was incredibly glad when Felicity’s heels came rushing down the corridor to him.

‘How did you get here?’, he asked, thinking about the amount of guards that had to have been in her way.

She waved a dismissive hand, looking for the keys to his cell. Unfortunately, Oliver knew she wasn’t going to find them.

‘Damn it’, she snapped, glaring at the lock on the cell.

There was anger in her eyes, but also determination. Felicity wrapped her fingers around the lock, and she pulled. Hard. So hard, pink sparks flew from it.

Oliver stared, because that wasn’t right. But the cage was opened, and Felicity was dragging him away, with a strong hand on his arm.

‘What was that?’, he asked. ‘What did you do?’

Felicity gulped, not looking at him. ‘Later’, she said. ‘I’ll explain later.’

∆ ◊ ∆

Later came two months later, on an uneventful night in the lair.

Oliver just came back from patrol and Felicity was, of course, still there. He took off his hood, scrunching up his nose.

There was a tear on the sleeve.

‘I can fix that’, Felicity said, sweetly.

‘It’s fine’, he shook his head. ‘I know how to sew.’

He moved to walk away, but Felicity stopped him.

‘Let me fix it’, she said in a whisper, and Oliver just… watched her.

The jacket was still over his arm, so Felicity stood very close to him, as her fingers hovered above the cut. She was staring at it intently, and when she sighed, Oliver looked back down.

Felicity’s fingers were moving in a manner he has never seen her do before, and there were pink sparks jumping from them. From her fingers and into the fabrics, and Oliver stared as his jacket seemingly glued itself together.

‘I can’t do much’, Felicity said, voice still whispered. ‘My magic isn’t strong, I couldn’t have helped with Dhark.’

The thought haven’t even crossed Oliver’s mind.

‘It’s mostly charms’, Felicity went on. ‘Small tasks.’

‘Protection?’, he found himself saying, details finally slipping into place. ‘And strength?’

Felicity nodded.

‘The feathers’, Oliver breathed out. ‘And carvings on my bow.’

‘I tried my best’, she said, not looking at him.

‘Thank you’, he breathed out. ‘I didn’t… even realize how much they’ve helped.’

‘That was rather the point’, Felicity smiled a bit, taking a step back from him.

‘Why are you telling me now?’, Oliver felt the need to ask.

Felicity didn’t answer. She just smiled.

But it was enough, for Oliver to take a step forward and kiss her. Thankfully, she responded, and he knew she would. Somehow, he knew.

He knew that she was telling him now because she wanted a new chapter in their life to start. In _their_ life, together.

Oliver couldn’t deny her that.


	79. Yet another abundance of tiny prompts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I'm alive! And Olicity is still a thing I'm doing. Every now and then.  
> Anyway, here are 5 tiny prompts. Enjoy.

  * **Anon: How to get away with murder au with Oliver as Frank and Felicity as Laurel.**



Felicity should have gotten used to this. It’s been a couple of weeks since she and Oliver have been doing this. It shouldn’t surprise her anymore, that he’d find some flimsy excuse to take her away from work and screw her brains out.

Still, Felicity was always surprised. Like right now.

Honestly, it was kind of ridiculous. They spent the night together at Oliver’s apartment. He cooked them dinner, and they ate, chatting easily, having a couple of glasses of wine.

And then they spent the rest of the night in bed. And in the shower. And the kitchen counter. The couch, at some point. And the coffee table.

It’s a bit of a blur, but, bottom line, they spent the entire night having sex. Lots and lots of loud, good sex.

And now, Oliver drove them to the edge of town, stopped the car down a deserted alley, sat both of them in the back seat, and he currently had two fingers inside of her and his teeth were playfully biting at her breast.

‘Oliver’, she groaned, pushing down on his fingers despite herself. ‘We shouldn’t be-’

‘We should’, he grinned evily, in sync with his fingers doing some _thing_ that made Felicity arch off her seat.

He hummed, low in his throat, but didn’t say anything, considering his mouth was busy now with her other breast.

‘We should be working’, Felicity insisted.

He bit down, lapping at the sting with his tongue immediately after.

‘We’re gonna be late back at the office’, Felicity tried.

Oliver bit down again, in the same spot, sucking on it afterwards, as he slid another finger in her.

Felicity whimpered. ‘The others are going to find out.’

Oliver let go of her skin with a wet pop, and he licked his way to Felicity’s other breast, circling the nipple over and over again.

‘Digg is going to find out’, Felicity desperately tried, and that made Oliver stop.

He looked up at her, smirking.

‘He knows’, Oliver said, making Felicity freeze. ‘Our boss knows everything.’

Oliver’s fingers started moving again, faster now, making Felicity whimper.

He pressed his lips to her neck, sighing, making her skin tingle.

‘He knows, he doesn’t care, he lets us do our…’, he paused as he curled his fingers in a way that made Felicity whimper, ‘business. I don’t care.’

His fingers moved faster, and she could feel Oliver grinning against her skin.

‘I don’t care’, he said slowly, breathlessly, ‘about anything else right now… other than you coming all over my hand.’

It didn’t take long after that, for Felicity to do exactly that. She came with a shout of Oliver’s name, wrapping her legs tightly around his waist and digging her fingers into his back.

She whimpered when he pulled his hand away from her, and whimpered again as he licked it clean, grinning all the while.

Oliver kept grinning, as Felicity caught her breath, and he kept grinning as they shared a short kiss.

‘We should go back to work’, he said, but Felicity knew him by now. She pointedly looked at the way his pants were straining against his crotch.

‘Well’, Oliver smirked. ‘We can be a little late.’

As they switched places and she let him fuck her mouth, Felicity couldn’t help but think that this was all levels of wrong. She really shouldn’t be fucking her boss’s… henchman. Or whatever Oliver liked to call himself.

But then she heard Oliver moan as he came down her throat, and Felicity thought she was over thinking things.

And later, as she watched Oliver rough up a guy who wouldn’t give them information, as he had a rough hand around the guy’s throat and as Oliver kept punching the guy’s stomach, Felicity thought she was better off not thinking about things.

And even later, when they went back to Digg’s house and all of her colleagues shot her knowing looks, as Laurel pointed out that Felicity’s shirt was crookedly buttoned, as Digg rolled his eyes and didn’t say one word outside of reprimanding them for not getting the information they needed, Felicity thought that maybe she’d be better off thinking about things.

And even later, as Oliver held her up against the bathroom wall and his fingers dug bruises on her waist, Felicity couldn’t think about things anymore.

 

  * **[aguscha333](http://archiveofourown.org/users/aguscha333/pseuds/aguscha333) asked: "Felicity, have you seen the salmon ladder bar" or the one where Oliver and Felicity are still broken up and Felicity hides the salmon ladder bar because she could not bear to watch and not have hahahaha.**



Digg was staring at her. Arms crossed over his massive chest, eyes narrowed, glowering down at her.

He’s been standing by her desk for the past 10 minutes. Silently.

‘What?’, she finally snapped, glaring right back at him.

‘Where’s the salmon ladder?’, Digg deadpanned, expression not changing, tone even.

Felicity gulped, blushing instantly, looking away from him.

‘I wasn’t going to mention it’, Oliver said, appearing out of nowhere, ‘but I’m curious.’

Felicity huffed, turning back to look at her computer, absently typing away.

‘I took it down’, she said, coldly.

‘Obviously’, Digg deadpanned again. ‘But why?’

Felicity huffed. ‘Do I seriously need to spell it out?’

She saw in the corner of her eyes the men sharing a confused look.

‘Seriously’, she sighed, ‘you cannot be this dense.’

They both looked affronted, now, and that it was made Felicity’s anger spike.

‘Oliver on the salmon ladder is a sexual experience’, she snapped, not looking at them. ‘A sexual experience waiting to happen, that I don’t have access to anymore. So I took it down, because I am not a fan of torture.’

Her outburst was met with silence. Risking a look up, she saw that Digg looked amused, which just made her even more angry, and Oliver looked like he was thinking about… it.

Felicity all but growled under her breath. ‘Good enough of an answer for you?’

‘Sure’, Digg was quick to nod. ‘But, I mean, how the hell did you manage to take it down? That shit is heavy and you’re tiny.’

She punched his shoulder, hard, just to show him how much strength a tiny person had.

‘Let me shove it up your ass’, she countered, ‘so you can see just how heavy it is.’

‘Okay, okay’, Digg raised his hands, walking away, ‘Cased closed, I got it.’

Oliver wasn’t smart enough to leave. Felicity narrowed her eyes at him. He looked… odd. He was sad, but he was also blushing and really, Felicity couldn’t handle it.

So she turned her back to him. ‘Walk away, Oliver’, she whispered. ‘Just walk away.’

He did walk away, thankfully. He also worked over night, because when Felicity came back the next morning, Oliver was in the middle of a workout, hanging by his hands from a small metal ladder that was nailed to one of the walls. He was shirtless, his biceps were bulging and he was lifting up his legs methodically.

‘Are you an idiot?’, Felicity whined.

‘Nope’, he grinned, not even pausing his workout. ‘But I do still love you and I figured a… what was it? Sexual encounter waiting to happen might help change your mind.’

Felicity’s jaw dropped. ‘You’re definitely an idiot, because you _know_ that’s not why-‘

‘Sure’, he smiled a bit softly. ‘I’m not going to sit on my ass and do nothing, though.’

He jumped off the thing, then, and made his way towards her. Felicity couldn’t help but stare at his chest, glistening with sweat, radiating heat and making her _want_.

‘Consider this your warning’, Oliver smirked.

‘Warning for what?’, Felicity whispered, her eyes moving to his collarbone. She loved his collarbone. She loved licking his collarbone. She sighed.

Oliver put a finger under her chin, pointedly lifting her head up until their eyes met.

‘I am going to woo you’, he whispered, so playful and soft. ‘I am going to woo the hell out of you, until I convince you that in my arms is where you should be.’

Felicity whimpered.

Oliver grinned at that, and quickly kissed her cheek, before moving away.

‘I’m gonna shower’, he yelled half-way through to the bathroom, making Felicity realize she was staring at his ass.

‘Feel free to join me’, he added, pointedly swinging his hips.

Felicity gulped. She was doomed. And so very horny. She took a deep breath and started plotting a way to destroy the salmon ladder. And the new ladder Oliver brought.

And every ladder in existence, really.

 

  * **[theangelshavethephonebox123](http://theangelshavethephonebox123.tumblr.com/) asked: thea and roy go on a double date with Olicity and its really fluffy until laurel comes and shout abusive at felicity for some reason **



‘We’re meeting Thea and Roy at the restaurant.’

Good thing Felicity said this when they were stopped at a light, because if not, Oliver might have crashed the car.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to have dinner with Thea and Roy. It wasn’t that he didn’t love both of them.

It was just that he and Felicity haven't been on a proper date in months, really, and Oliver was looking forward to have a nice dinner with his girlfriend.

He sighed.

‘Don’t be like that’, Felicity gently slapped at his arm. ‘It’ll be nice.’

‘Nice’, Oliver deadpanned.

‘Yup’, Felicity said brightly. ‘Family dinner.’

That didn’t sound so bad, not really, but Oliver wasn’t going to get his hopes up. This was Thea they were talking about.

Plus, Felicity knew how much Oliver was looking forward to this date. She wouldn’t have invited his sister along so it was probably Thea’s idea. So something was probably wrong.

Oliver sighed again.

≡

They had to wait 20 minutes for the other couple to arrive, because Thea fell asleep without setting an alarm and then they got lost on the way to the restaurant. Twice.

Oliver… ordered his food and let Felicity do the talking.

Which she did. Felicity and Thea talked easily about simple things. Thea asked about Felicity’s mom, Felicity asked about Laurel. Then they went, somehow, to talking about clothes, and that went on through the appetizers.

During the main course, the girls talked about what projects Felicity had in mind for Palmer Tech, and about what home improvements she wanted to do in the apartment.

That was brand new information for Oliver, but he didn’t dwell on it. He didn’t care. But Thea did, she seemed weirdly interested in Felicity’s ideas and every now and then, she’d share an odd look with Roy.

When desert came, Thea took a deep breath and grabbed Roy’s hand under the table.

‘We have some news.’, she said hesitantly, making Roy roll his eyes.

‘I knew it’, Oliver sighed. ‘No way you decided to start going on double dates with us for no reason.’

Felicity elbowed him in the stomach.

‘What?’, he yelped. ‘It’s true. Obviously.’

‘Let them share their news, Oliver’, Felicity told him in a disapproving tone, before smiling brightly and looking at the other couple.

‘Well?’, she giggled. ‘Don’t leave us hanging!’

Roy rolled his eyes again, but didn’t say anything. Instead, he kept looking, somewhat expectedly, at Thea.

‘Roy and I have been through a lot together, as you know’, she started by saying, somewhat slowly. ‘And we, I mean… The thing is…’

‘Are you getting married?’, Oliver asked slowly, careful not to let any emotions show in his voice.

Roy chocked on air, blushing furiously. Thea glared at her brother.

‘No’, she said, absently patting Roy on the back. ‘We’re just moving in together.’

‘Uhhh!’, Felicity exclaimed. ‘That’s great!’

Oliver frowned. ‘Where?’

‘We found a cool two bedroom apartment two blocks from the loft’, Roy said and he sounded hesitant.

‘We don’t mind having you guys close’, Felicity was quick to assure. ‘I mean, it’s a good thing, in case, you know, there’s an emergency.’

‘That’s what we thought too’, Thea smiled. ‘And we really like the apartment. It still needs some work, but it’s going to be worth it.’

Felicity took Oliver’s hand, not gently like she usually did, but digging her nails into his palm rather strongly.

‘We’re really happy for you’, she smiled at Thea and Roy. ‘Aren’t we, Oliver?’

He sighed, rolled his eyes, but he did smile at his little sister.

‘Yeah we are. If you’re happy, then so are we.’

Thea smiled widely at that, but Roy narrowed his eyes.

‘Don’t get sappy on me, Queen.’

Oliver glared, instantly. ‘I’ll get sappy on my sister. And I’ll kick your ass if you hurt her.’

Felicity and Thea both groaned at that, but all Roy did was roll his eyes.

‘Little bit late for the shovel talk, dude.’

‘Don’t call me dude’, Oliver snapped.

‘Champagne!’, Felicity yelped.

‘Yes, we need some’, Thea nodded forcefully.

Oliver sighed.

Well, at least his girls were happy. They were ridiculous, but it was clear they were happy, considering they started talking about home renovations again.

_No, Felicity, we’re not painting the bedroom green._

 

  * **I lost the prompt but it's a continuation of[this chapter](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2541998/chapters/7943262), where Oliver finds out that the Joker was Felicity’s first**



Thankfully, Bruce didn’t stick around after dinner. Which was just fine with Oliver.

He cornered Felicity in the kitchen, as she was loading the dishwasher.

‘So’, he said, leaning against the table. ‘The Joker, huh?’

Felicity rolled her eyes, but she nodded.

‘Want to explain that?’, he pressed when she didn’t say anything.

‘Not really’, Felicity sighed. ‘But you want it, so I’m going to do it.’

She spoke evenly, but she didn’t look at Oliver, she kept taking care of the dishes.

‘I am Batman and Catwoman’s daughter. As you saw, I had a certain… upbringing. Because of those skills that I’ve been taught, I’ve always wanted to do something. To help.’

Oliver couldn’t help but smile at that.

‘So I was always out on the streets, helping where I could. I was 15 when I got in over my head, picked a fight with a guy… too strong for me. This other kid saved me. His name was Jerome.’

Felicity stopped with the dishes, taking a deep breath and turning around to face Oliver.

‘He was about my age, lived in a foster home. They didn’t care about him, so he was out all the time. He was nice’, Felicity shrugged. ‘We got along well. He made me laugh, a lot, and when I wanted to fight, he came with me.’

She shrugged again. ‘We hooked up, eventually. We’ve been together for a couple of months when dad got me my first car. I drove us to the edge of town, we had a picnic and saw the sunset, waited for the stars to come up and had sex in the back seat of my brand spanking new Toyota.’

‘Okay’, Oliver breathed out. ‘How did you figure out he was the Joker?’

‘Well’, Felicity tilted her head. ‘He went missing soon after that. Turned up a couple of months later, kidnapped me and dad.’

‘Jesus’, Oliver breathed out.

‘Yeah, it was a mess’, Felicity nodded, before waving a hand. ‘It’s all in the past now.’

‘You lost your virginity to the Joker’, Oliver said, still wrapping his mind around it.

‘Hey now’, Felicity glared at him. ‘Don’t give me that look. Who did you lose your virginity too? Do you even remember her?’

‘I remember her’, Oliver flinched. ‘I don’t remember actually … doing it.’

Felicity snorted. ‘You’re in no position to judge me.’

‘I’m not judging you’, Oliver shook his head. ‘I’m just praying the Joker won’t stumble upon our town. Cause I’d kill him.’

Felicity’s jaw dropped because of the easy way he said it. Oliver shrugged.

‘It would piss your dad off, if I get him before he does.’

Felicity rolled her eyes at that, muttering something about _idiot superheroes_ as she left the kitchen, leaving Oliver to deal with the dishes. He might have deserved it.

 

  * **Anon asked: olicity + dirty dice**



‘What the hell are those?’, Oliver frowned deeply at the things in Felicity’s hand.

‘Dice’, she said excitedly. ‘Dirty dice.’

‘Uhm’, Oliver tilted his head.

‘You’ve never seen a pair before? Never used them before?’

Oliver shook his head and it seemed to make Felicity even more excited. She came to sit down next to him on the couch, pressing their sides together and putting the dice in his hands.

Reading their sides, Oliver understood why they were called dirty dice.

‘So you roll them’, Felicity said, ‘and then we have to do what it says.’

Oliver turned to look at her. ‘You’re wearing too many clothes.’

Felicity snorted at that, but she also climbed onto his lap.

‘One of them says _with clothes on_.’

Oliver didn’t really get to answer that, because Felicity kissed him. He lost himself in it and promptly forgot about the dice.

But just as he started moving his hips against Felicity’s, she stopped him and kissed the knuckles of the hand that was still holding onto the dice.

He groaned in frustration, but he maneuvered Felicity, throwing the dice on the coffee table. Oliver didn’t look, too busy kissing Felicity’s neck.

But she did and promptly froze.

‘What is it?’, he whispered against her neck.

‘Are you hungry?’

Oliver frowned up at her. ‘For you, yes.’

She snorted and moved off his lap. Oliver turned to the coffee table.

The dice said they were supposed to eat, while fully clothed.

‘That’s stupid’, he said.

‘I’m kinda hungry’, Felicity admitted.

Oliver sighed, looked down regretfully at his hard on, and got up to order them some food.

Still, he insisted they eat naked.


	80. A decade and a photoshoot later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [@Ranaahh95](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Ranaahh95/pseuds/Ranaahh95) asked: An Olicity AU where after five years, Felicity is assigned as the art director of a bridal client’s emergency shoot. She has to work with well-known and successful photographer Oliver Queen. The same Oliver Queen who Felicity dated while in college. The same guy that convinced her he would return to the States after finishing his master’s abroad. Will Felicity and Oliver be able to work together to complete the emergency shoot before the release on Christmas Day? Is working together destiny’s shot at a second chance between them? Only time can tell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can we all just take a moment to thank Meagan, who has been kind enough to sacrifice herself and proof read my Olicity fics? Thank you, my dear. I owe you one :)

To be fair, Felicity has changed a lot in the 10 years that passed since she finished high school.

The black straight hair was gone, replaced by soft gold curls. The goth clothes were replaced by pencil skirts and pretty shirts. The combat boots were replaced by heeled designer shoes. 

The studded leather bracelets were replaced by soft gold ones. The thick rimmed eyeglasses were replaced by contact lenses, more often than not. The black goth eye makeup was replaced with soft earth tones. The black lipstick was replaced with bright pink lip gloss.

Yeah, Felicity changed a lot since high school. 

But the biggest change was probably her career choice. Not in a million years would she have thought that after graduating from MIT she would end up working in design.

But here she was. Currently employed at the biggest wedding planning firms in Starling City, the only art director in the company, in charge of designs for everything and everything, from engagement photo shoots to actual weddings.

Here she was, sitting at a table with Oliver Queen, the love of her high school life, the one who got away, the asshole who promised he’d call when he’d land in England, but never did, the guy who broke Felicity’s heart.

And he didn’t even recognize her.

⃝

It wasn’t that Felicity didn’t know how Oliver’s life turned out. In the past two years, his career took off massively, becoming one of the best fashion photographers in the States. He was from Starling City, and Felicity’s boss has been trying to hire him for  _ ages _ , so of course she knew about him.

It didn’t really hurt anymore. What he did was shitty, but they were both so young, so stupidly innocent, she really couldn’t blame him for starting a new life once he moved abroad.

And it paid off, clearly. Oliver was very good at his job, and Felicity got to see that first hand.

They sat around the conference table together, the two of them and Felicity’s boss, talking about the shoot they will be doing together.

Oliver’s sister was getting married, and he was going to be shooting their engagement photos. He had a rough idea, that Felicity helped refine and improve.

By the time Thea and her fiancée came, Felicity and Oliver were both very pleased with their concept. Thea was too, her excitement was clear, but she kept throwing weird looks towards Felicity.

‘It’s just that you look awfully familiar’, she said towards the end of the meeting, making Felicity freeze. ‘Have we met before?’

Sure, Felicity thought. I used to play tea party with you and braid your hair when you were little.

‘I don’t think so’, is what she said. Thankfully, Thea let it drop.

⃝

She kept in contact with Oliver over the next week, careful not to mention her last name, because that would have been a dead giveaway. It was all very professional anyway.

On the day of the shoot, Felicity felt pretty good about herself. She did her job brilliantly, and Oliver’s jaw kinda dropped when he saw the setup.

‘This is better that I expected’, was all he said, but it still made Felicity smirk.

The shoot went perfectly. Not only were the photos gorgeous, but Oliver, Thea and Roy had  _ fun _ .

Felicity was proud of herself, and she was proud of Oliver.

⃝

A week after the shoot, Oliver asked her out to lunch. Despite herself, Felicity accepted.

Oliver offered her a job. He was opening his own studio and he wanted Felicity by his side. They worked well together, he said, and he liked the way she viewed the world.

Felicity panicked.

‘I can’t do that’, she breathed out.

‘Why not?’, Oliver smiled, easily. ‘Do you like weddings that much?’

She started hyperventilating, and she couldn’t go through with this.

‘What’s my name?’

Oliver frowned.

‘Oliver, what’s my last name?’

‘Huh’, he tilted his head. ‘I don’t really know.’

‘It’s Smoak’, Felicity breathed out, looking away. 

‘My name is Felicity Smoak.’

His eyes were wide and his jaw was dropped. 

He was gripping his coffee mug tightly, veins appearing on his hand.

Felicity got up and left. Oliver didn’t follow.

⃝

Thea took her out to lunch the next day, despite Felicity’s protests.

She explained everything.

That Oliver’s plane had a rough landing in England, an accident. That Oliver hit his head really bad.

He had amnesia. He didn’t remember anything. The memories came back, slowly, sporadically, but he still hasn’t recovered them all.

He never went to college in England. He was in Starling all this time, fighting his brain. The frustration, desperation. Depression.

He remembered Felicity about 4 years ago. Not a lot, just some things. He didn’t want to look for her, knowing that she probably hated him.

Meeting Felicity again didn’t bring back more memories, but pain. He had a relapse, Thea said. Wouldn’t leave the bed.

‘It’s not your fault, I know that’, Thea said softly. ‘Nobody’s blaming you, but… don’t blame Oliver either.’

‘I don’t-‘

‘I just thought that you deserved to know the truth’, Thea cut her off. ‘And I don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t know if you should call Oliver, or wait for him to call you. Hell, I don’t even know if he’s ever going to call you again.  Just… don’t blame him.’

All Felicity could do was nod.

⃝

Oliver e-mailed her that night. Apologizing for Thea, saying that he should have been the one to tell Felicity, but that he couldn’t.

Felicity sent him back a simple  _ it’s alright _ .

⃝

Two weeks later, she gets another email from Oliver. This time, it’s a proper, official proposal, for her to join his studio.

It’s impressive, Felicity has to admit. The pay is even better than what she gets now, and she is certain that there’s never going to be a shortage of jobs, because it’s Oliver Queen, and Oliver Queen is a popular name in the industry.

She wants to do it, quit her job and work with him, but she… can’t.

She e-mails Oliver a simple  _ I can’t _ .

He sends her back a  _ Please _ .

Felicity doesn’t answer.

⃝

He’s waiting by her apartment that night when she gets home with two pizza boxes and a shy smile.

‘I vaguely remember you liking pizza.’, he says, and Felicity nods.

‘What are you doing here, Oliver?’

‘Can I come in? Have a slice of pizza and maybe… talk? I owe you at least that.’

She shook her head. ‘You don’t owe me anything.’

‘I still want to’, he shrugged. ‘If that’s okay with you.’ Felicity let him in.

They ate in silence and Felicity was, once again, freaking out. The frown that Oliver wore wasn’t helping.

‘Look’, he finally said, ‘I need to be honest with you. I don’t remember much. Of us.’

Felicity gulped.

‘Just bits and pieces’, he went on. ‘But I remember enough to realize that you’ve… you’ve changed a lot.’

‘It’s been ten years, Oliver’, she shook her head. ‘I’m not the same.’

‘Neither am I’, Oliver nodded. ‘But I like this you, and I want to work with you. I know that we…’, he blushed, slightly. ‘There’s no way for us to be in a relationship anymore, not now. But I want to get to know you again. I think we could be friends.’

‘Can we, really?’, Felicity’s hands were shaking.

But Oliver smiled. ‘Could we at least try?’

‘You’re asking me to quit my job.’, Felicity couldn’t help but say. ‘And help you start your own business, from the bottom up.’

‘Yup’, Oliver grinned. ‘You’re going to be awesome at it.’

Felicity sighed.

‘I’m going to be awesome at it too’, Oliver kept on grinning.

Felicity looked at him, really looked at him. He seemed excited.

‘Oh gosh’, she said, digging her fingers into her thigh.

‘ _ We’re _ going to be awesome.’

‘Okay’, Felicity took a deep breath. ‘All right.’

⃝

Oliver never did remember their past relationship. But it was okay, because he never forgot their new one. 


End file.
